ESA Publications, a subsidiary company of The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand Ltd, has printed thousands of workbooks
and distributed them to the Ministry of Education to help school pupils who do not have access to devices or the
internet as part of the Ministry’s COVID-19 learning from home package.
About 130,000 ESA Publications books covering a range of subjects for year Levels 1-10 and NCEA Level 1-3 have been
printed to support the start of Term 2. The Ministry of Education will be responsible for distributing these to students
across the country.
Packs include a range of education resources with guidance for parents and whānau and some stationery supplies.
Open Polytechnic School Strategy head Alex MacCreadie said they are committed to supporting learners who are adjusting
to learning from home.
He said ESA Publications and Open Polytechnic are in a strong position to support pupils and providers across the
country with a wide range of distance learning resources.
“As face-to-face classroom environments move to the home, it’s important pupils have access to a range of learning
tools. We are committed to providing support for learners and providers as we respond to COVID-19.”
Open Polytechnic is also making its iQualify for Schools online learning platform available free of charge for schools.
Chief Executive Dr Caroline Seelig said Open Polytechnic is dedicated to sharing its expertise in online and distance
learning with the wider education sector. Earlier this month Open Polytechnic also made the iQualify platform available
free of charge during the COVID-19 pandemic for tertiary education providers.
“While learning environments have changed for pupils and learners across all levels of education, we want to offer our
support to learners and providers by sharing our resources to make at-home learning easier,” says Dr Seelig.