Press Releases – The Paperight Blog

Paperight schools taste matric success

Last week saw the release of matric results for 2013 in the Western Cape. Two schools in the Western Cape that used Paperight’s past matric exam papers as part of their teaching this year saw huge improvements in their pass rates and the quality of their passes.

Pelican Park High School’s principal, Mr. Cader Tregonning, made it his mission to pull his school’s socks up. When he heard about Paperight matric exam past papers, he encouraged all students to buy them at the beginning of the school year. It was clear to see that those that had bought them were sailing ahead in marks and confidence by the middle of the year. Pelican Park High School ultimately achieved a pass rate of 93.5% (up from 80% in 2012), and had 5 subjects with a 100% pass rate: English, Afrikaans, History, Life Orientation, Mathematical Literacy.

Silverstream Secondary School had the unfortunate distinction of being the school in the Western Cape with the lowest pass rate in 2012. Minuteman Press Cape Town stepped in to help them out by donating Paperight materials to their students. Despite enormous adversity – including gangsterism in the surrounding areas – the staff and students worked hard in 2013 and their hard work shows in their final results. Silverstream Secondary School achieved a pass rate of 69.1% (up from 34.2% in 2012). That means that their pass rate almost doubled. Even better, the number of students who achieved Diploma passes went from 9.2% to 38.2%, meaning that more matriculants from the school can look forward to tertiary education.

So there we have it! Proof that Paperight materials are essential in the classroom. At such affordable rates, we can make sure that more classrooms are better equipped to ensure that their students have the best possible chance of success. Why not head down to your local high school/s and introduce yourself with a copy of Paperight’s catalogue? You’ll find a copy here for download.

If you would like to get involved by sponsoring a school by supplying them with much-needed educational supplements, or would just like to find out more about our programme and what it takes, please contact us at team@paperight.com or 021 671 1278.

What a(n award-winning) week!

Arthur appreciating the Accenture Apex award trophy.

Great news: Paperight won two massive innovation awards last week. Woo!

Paperight took first place at the Frankfurt Book Fair Contec Startup Showcase in Germany last Tuesday, before we picked up the Apex award for the most innovative small company in South Africa at the Accenture Innovation Index Awards in Sandton on Thursday evening.

The Contec Startup Showcase was held as a precursor to the Frankfurt Book Fair, the world’s largest and most internationally-represented publishing industry event. Paperight beat out competitors from around the world, impressing a panel of judges with both our technological innovations and our social mission.

The Accenture Innovation Index Awards was launched to promote business growth and new enterprises in aid of job creation in South Africa. The awards were open to any organisation, irrespective of industry or size, and were judged on each organisation’s innovation ecosystem – from human resources to branding, from marketing to product development. Paperight was named as the winner of the Apex award, awarded to an organisation with an annual turnover under R40 million. The winner of the Zenith award, given to an organisation with an annual turnover over R40 million, was awarded to First National Bank (FNB).

These awards come after Paperight won major publishing innovation awards in New York City and London earlier this year

So, again, a massive thank you to our partner publishers, outlets and supporters around the world. We are changing the face of publishing for the better in South Africa and abroad.

Blitsdruk George brings exam success to Imizamo Yethu High School!

A Paperight outlet has made a great commitment to improving matric success in their community.

Blitsdruk George teamed up with Paperight earlier this month to equip Imizamo Yethu High School with invaluable matric study resources, ensuring that the school’s learners have the best chance of passing the most important exams of their lives so far!

Imizamo Yethu was selected based on the school’s massive improvement to their matric pass rate, from 27% in 2011 to 82% in 2012. Together, Blitsdruk and Paperight hope that these aids will enable to school to sustain their success, and improve even further. (Here is a link to a story from the George Herald about the school’s improvements: http://www.georgeherald.com/news.aspx?id=19107)

Blitsdruk George has sponsored R10 000 towards purchasing the licenses for Maths and Maths Literacy past matric exam papers, as well as Learn Xtra study guides for these two subjects, to give to matric students of Imizamo Yethu High School. In addition, Blitsdruk has also sponsored the cost of printing the 795 titles for the school.

With this partnership, the learners at Imizamo Yethu have an even better chance of achieving their matric ambitions. If you are would like to get involved by adopting a school and supplying them with much-needed educational supplements, or would just like to find out more about our programme and what it takes, please contact us at team@paperight.com or 021 671 1278.

Paperight and Riso Africa empower schools to print their own textbooks

Press release: 27 August 2013

Paperight and Riso Africa are making it easy for schools to print their own textbooks.

Despite the efforts of publishers and government, many schools still don’t receive enough textbooks for learners. And many matrics have no easy access to past exam papers and study guides for revision. Speaking to the Mail & Guardian recently, one teacher explained that “In my 12 years of teaching in Senekal, there has not been a year in which learners had all the textbooks they needed. This is why the system continues to produce learners who can’t read and write.”

By empowering schools to print their own textbooks, Paperight enables teachers and parents to take action themselves. Schools with a paperight.com account can download and print books as needed, for instance when topping up shortfalls in setwork books or providing learners with extra study guides.

Printing learning materials through Paperight is completely legal. “Publishers really want to solve the problem of access to books in South Africa,” explains Arthur Attwell, founder of Paperight. “So they allow our network of schools and copy shops to print out books in return for a small licence fee.”

Working with Riso, that possibility becomes even more attractive. “Riso and Paperight is sparking nothing less than a revolution”, says Sonia Anderson, Marketing & Environmental Manager for Riso Africa. “Our ComColor machines let schools print out textbooks for less than their retail price, bound and in full colour. A 600-page textbook prints and binds in 6 minutes.”

“We’re also excited about working with Riso because of their environmental pedigree,” says Attwell. “Riso machines require very little power, making them among the greenest in the world. They’ll even run off a UPS, making them perfect for schools where electricity is unreliable.”

Under the terms of the Paperight deal, Riso will contribute towards the publishers’ licence fees on behalf of schools that use their machines. Schools that enter into a contract with Riso Africa will receive a pre-paid paperight.com account, which they can use to legally print books, including study guides and past matric exam papers. Paperight already offers over 1700 different books, including titles from Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press.

In February, Paperight was officially congratulated by Parliament, whose endorsement “acknowledges the importance of making published works easily accessible to millions of people throughout Africa; and … encourages publishers to register with Paperight in making their works accessible to all.”

Join us at the Open Book Festival!

The excitement is building in the run up to the Open Book Festival, one of the premiere events on the South African literary calendar! Set in Cape Town, the event brings local and international writers together to talk about things that matter – and we’re going too!

On Saturday the 7th of September 2013, we’re hosting a panel discussion titled “Young Writers, Big Futures” to explore the successes of the Paperight Young Writers’ Anthology 2013 and the challenges of developing writers in South Africa. Hosted by our CEO Arthur Attwell and featuring an appearance from esteemed author (and our foreword contributor) Niq Mhlongo, this is a great opportunity to come together as a big Paperight family and celebrate our mission of bringing every book within walking distance of every home.

So, we’d love you to join us. The event will be held at the Fugard Theatre in Cape Town on 7 September and tickets are going for R30 per person. Come around, say hi, meet some of our great young writers, and see for yourselves what we’re up to. For more information about the event and to purchase tickets, click here.

Adopt a school and bring matric success to underprivileged schools

It is no secret that the education system in South Africa is not where it should be. The assistance of the private sector is desperately needed in many neighbourhoods where schools are under-financed, in disrepair or under-resourced.

Paperight has this week started an Adopt-A-School campaign, the idea for which came about when Minuteman Press Cape Town owner Rob Brickhill contacted Paperight to assist him in finding a school in need of extra support.

“I wanted to find a school that is really in need of help,” Rob said. He had recently registered with Paperight and realised that he had direct access to study materials to assist the schools he wanted to assist.

After some searching, Paperight introduced Rob Brickhill to Silverstream Secondary School in Manenberg on the Cape Flats. Last year the school suffered the lowest matric pass rate in the Western Cape in 2012, with a disappointing 34.2% of its matric class managing to pass.

It’s not surprising then to learn that living circumstances for many students at the school are particularly difficult. “We have some learners who live alone in shacks nearby whilst their parents are in the Eastern Cape”, said Mrs. Essa, a teacher at the school.

Rob Brickhill and Mrs. Essa discussed the requirements of the school and provided the matriculants with Grade 12 study guides and teaching guides to assist the teachers with improving their productivity. With the assistance of private companies and donors like Minuteman Press Cape Town, the school will be able to help their matrics make a success out of their schooling careers and the rest of their lives.

By partnering with Paperight, both private individuals and photocopy shops can make a massive difference to the lives of hundreds of learners and teachers in desperate need of quality educational resources. We offer packs of past matric exam papers, Oxford University Press Exam Success study guides and hundreds of other books on our print-on-demand system.

If you are would like to get involved by adopting a school and supplying them with much-needed educational supplements, or would just like to find out more about our programme and what it takes, please contact us at team@paperight.com or 021 671 1278.

O’Reilly distributes with Paperight

O’Reilly Media, one of the world’s leading publishers of technology books, has signed with Paperight to increase access to their books in the developing world.

The deal allows over 150 Paperight outlets throughout South Africa – many in rural villages and poor townships where traditional bookstores do not exist – to legally print out O’Reilly books for their customers on demand. Depending on individual outlet printing prices, books are around 20 per cent less to print at a Paperight outlet. More importantly, customers save time and money by not travelling to distant bookstores, where books may or may not be in stock. Instead, any local copy shop can meet their needs.

The new distribution agreement comes shortly after Paperight was named ‘Most Entrepreneurial Startup’ at the O’Reilly Tools of Change Startup Showcase, held in February in New York City. Paperight also took first place, via popular vote, at the Digital Minds Conference Innovation Showcase this week at London Book Fair.

‘The irony of the digital revolution is that while democratising knowledge production, it has increased the gap between the Internet-haves and have-nots,’ says Arthur Attwell, founder and CEO of Paperight. ‘If you’re not online, you can’t learn about technology, and you can’t close that gap. O’Reilly books on Paperight can change that. Many of our printing outlets directly supply schools and computer training centres, and these books will give them a huge advantage.’

Some of the O’Reilly books that will soon be available on Paperight include Learning Web Design, Programming C# 5.0, and Learning Java. Titles from the Head First series will also be available, including titles focusing on PHP & MySQL, Python and Excel.

“Paperight was one of the most exciting new services featured in the TOC NY Startup Showcase,” says Joe Wikert, General Manager and Chair of Tools of Change (TOC). “They were selected ‘Most Entrepreneurial Startup’ because of the creative solution they’ve developed to convert copy shops into a new distribution channel.”

“We’re pleased that O’Reilly content is being distributed through Paperight and we encourage other publishers to sign up as well,” Wikert adds.

New Africa Books signs up with Paperight

We’re proud to announce that legendary South African publishing house New Africa Books has signed up with Paperight.

Over the coming months, books from New Africa Books and its various imprints’ will be available at Paperight outlets. New Africa Books’ imprints include:

David Philip, an award-winning publisher of high-quality general books;
Spearhead, a publisher of contemporary self-help and alternative lifestyle books; and
New Africa Education, an education publisher publishing for and beyond the South African national curriculum, and a publisher of illustrated children’s books.

Jetline’s leap of faith to make books cheaper for students

Great news! A progressive Paperight-affiliated copy shop chain is taking big steps to make books more affordable in the country’s urban centres by charging only 50c per double-sided A4 page for books and other documents printed through Paperight.

Gauteng-based chain Jetline, which has 43 branches throughout South Africa, is looking to address urban dwellers’ problems with accessing textbooks that they require for tertiary or vocational studies.

More than most other places in the country, South Africa’s city centres are teeming with books. Almost all of them, however, are locked up in commercial bookstores, out of the reach and budget of those who need them most.

Jetline has recently signed up with Paperight to help allieviate this problem.

Jetline hopes to address the issue of unaffordable books by slashing prices for students printing books or other documents through Paperight. Students can now print their choice of hundreds of books and other documents on demand for only 50c per double-sided A4 page – half the price of the average photocopy – at any of their stores.

Understanding the current crises in distribution of educational material throughout South Africa, Jetline hopes to prove that money can be made by simply making books cheaper for urban students.

“The offshoot of this is that Jetline will achieve the high volume of printing jobs needed to allow them to offer such low printing charges to their customers,” says Arthur Attwell, Paperight’s CEO and Founder.

“It’s a cycle that benefits everyone in the long term, but it requires a small leap of faith to kickstart it. By doing this, Jetline is vividly illustrating their determination to address South Africa’s problems in effectively distributing educational material.”

A university staple such as The Great Gatsby can cost R80-R120 in a commercial bookstore. Through Jetline, a Paperight edition of the same book can cost as little as R40.

Jetline is also reducing delivery costs of printed Paperight documents for customers in remote areas, meaning that students don’t have to live in the city to take advantage of Jetline’s price cuts.

To find a list of all of Jetline’s outlets, click here.

Everything you need to pass your Matric finals!

The Paperight team has been working hard to make sure that Matric students anywhere in the country will be able to access past matric papers.

There are 50 teaching days left until the 2012 matric exam finals kick off. A few short months ago we told you that past papers for all matric subjects (including language papers, and non-language papers) from the year 2008 to 2011 were now available from any Paperight outlet. Today we’ve gone a step further in making these more easily accessible to students on a budget, by separating some of the packs into smaller individual packs that cost less to print out.

Now students can purchase the papers for a specific year without having to print out the entire pack – unless they want to. Couple these practice papers with an Exam Success Study Guide, and you’re sure to succeed at your final exams!

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