Google has announced to app developers it is now accepting submissions for its forthcoming Google Play for Education store.
In a post on the company’s official Android developer blog, the smartphone and online services giant has announced that developers can tag apps for possible inclusion in the program.
“Google Play for Education is an extension of the Google Play Store for schools, adding curation, bulk purchasing, and instant distribution to students’ Android tablets for educational apps, books and videos,” the company states.
Google says all apps will be screened and need to fulfil a number of criteria before becoming available through the program.
“Educators perform a first-pass qualification of apps, assigning the appropriate subject, grade, and common core standards metadata, while evaluating whether they meet the Google Play for Education criteria for classroom use.”
The company is also stressing that apps need to be optimised for tablets in order to be eligible for the program.
The move comes after figures released earlier this month showed the education subsector of the US tablet market grew by an explosive 103% year-on-year during 2012.
Tablets accounted for 35.4% of all end-user computer sales to US schools during 2012, up from 19.4% in 2011.
Andrew Sadauskas is a former journalist at SmartCompany and a former editor of TechCompany.
