Saudi Arabia's Education Minister Ahmad Al-Issa approved a government plan to digitize the country's educational system on Wednesday.
In a statement to the press Al-Issa declared that by 2020 books will no longer be needed in schools and will be replaced with tablets and educational software.
The move comes in a bid to further enhance educational experiences for both students and teachers.
Al Issa explained, "the project will be implemented in 150 schools in the first year, 1,500 in the second year, and all the kingdom’s schools during the third year," according to Middle East Monitor.
The project will cost an approximate 1.6 billion riyals.
As soon as news of the decision broke out, twitter erupted. And while people's opinions varied, everyone expressed their thoughts via the hashtag: #التعليم_يستغني_عن_الكتب (Education does away with books).
A few people are pretty upset with the decision
"So to save money, you destroy an entire generation?"
"In this day and age our only link to pen and paper is school. If that link is gone, the culture of reading and writing will forever be lost."
"Nothing new! Waste of funds. Plans that distract us from real problems. All under the guise of development."
"We try our best to keep our children away from these technologies to protect them from all their downsides, and our education Ministry attempts to do the opposite."
Others have concerns
"Faulty decision, excessive use of tablets can lead to eye strain and have negative health effects on children."
"Will students and their parents have to pay to maintain these tablets and fix them when they're damaged? This is nothing but a waste of the Ministry's budget."
"What if a virus hits the system's software and it shuts down... what will happen to schools then?"
Don't judge a tablet by its cover
"The problem doesn't lie in books or tablets. What matters is their content and the way we use them to teach and motivate both educators and students."
Many are all for the shift
"Why does change terrify you? It's not necessary that this shift will cause a rift between old and new, in fact, it can connect them. Accept technological advancement."
"This is an achievement, it deserves recognition. Our education system is not the best, but why only focus on the negative? People have become addicted to cynicism."
Some had other ideas
"Why don't we do without teachers as well?"
"The idea is as follows: go get yourself a printer because you're going to be printing all the PDF books."
And a few just couldn't
#Education does away with books, "Oh my God, WHY??"