A new project which links business and schools will "breathe real life experience into the classroom", the Minister for Education, Mr Martin, said last night.
He was launching The Irish Times Business 2000 project, which involves secondary school business students using "real life" case studies prepared by 32 leading Irish companies as part of their work.
The case studies are included in a pack to be sent to every secondary school in the State, which the project organisers, Woodgrange Consultants, say will "change forever the way business is taught in Irish schools".
The companies, among them Aer Rianta, AIB, Dairygold and Ryan Hotels, have drawn up the case studies describing their development in a format specifically suited to secondary school pupils.
The pack will be supplemented by a column every Monday in The Irish Times finance section, dealing with business issues and company profiles.
The project links up with the national curriculum, with each student being required to answer a case study type question in the higher level business exam in the 1999 Leaving Certificate.
Mr Martin said the project "is all about bringing business and schools together". The information technology element of Business 2000, a special site on The Irish Times's World Wide Web, was "very important" as pupils were hungry for opportunities to use the new technologies.
Ms Anna Gethings, the project's director from Woodgrange Consultants, said teachers would have a vital role to play in the project. "I believe we have produced a significant teaching and learning aid using live business studies to illustrate the real business world in the classroom," she said.
Mr Conor Brady, editor of The Irish Times, said the project would centre on the students' responses. He hoped students could use newspapers as a tool to sift through the large amounts of information circulating in modern society.
The newspaper was happy to be involved with the project, he said, and it was encouraging that newspaper readership among young people was not falling, as in other European states.
Mr Frank McKenna, chairman of the Business Teachers Association, said the format of the project meant unhelpful jargon would be removed.
The funding for the project has come from the 32 companies involved and a further 20 firms are already lined up to participate next year.
The case studies were written by experienced journalists, business people and teachers and are colourfully laid out and laminated.
A similar project as Business 2000 has been running in Britain for the past three years and the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, said recently that it was an ideal way to "stimulate young people's interest in business".
The pack is due to arrive at schools tomorrow and a teachers' support desk has been set up to deal with any queries. The telephone number is (01) 6618866.
Any other queries should be made to The Irish Times at (01) 6792022, on extensions 568 or 569. The Business 2000 World Wide Web address is http:// www.irish-times.com