A children’s electronic book website, Dani, is to be launched during the Iranian National Children’s Week (October 7-13) two months after its beta version was tested.
“This website will facilitate children’s access to books compatible with their needs and at lower prices,” Mehr News Agency quoted the head of the website, Ali Mohammadpour, as saying.
The initiative will also benefit publishers as it offers them new means of increasing sales and income, he said.
The website (Dani.ir) has signed agreements with most publishers of children’s books for posting their titles on the website.
Books for children under the age of 12 cannot be downloaded from the website. To use the website, those interested should make a monthly subscription payment, which enables them to have on-line access to the content of all books available on the website.
Pointing to the central idea of the website ‘books for every Iranian child’, he said in Iran children’s books are usually difficult to access and because most people, even those in rural areas, have access to internet, the website can help expand knowledge among the children.
Earlier this month the office of the deputy for planning and coordination at the Telecoms Ministry said access to the Internet in rural regions “has made significant progress” over the past three years and more than 27,700 villages across Iran have access to the Internet.
Book prices have increased significantly in recent years and their supply in smaller cities and provinces is below acceptable norms and also inconsistent with local populations.
Mohammadpour says so far 2500 books have been uploaded on the website and the aim is to make raise the number to 4000 within six months.
“We are working on giving free access of our website to children in the underprivileged regions,” the news agency quoted him as saying.
Add new comment
Read our comment policy before posting your viewpoints