Major publishers have donated as much as $250 million in e-books to impoverished students nationwide as part of an initiative by President Obama to have 99 percent of all students connected to the Internet by 2018.

The publishers include Bloomsbury, Candlewick, Cricket Media, Hachette, HarperCollins, Lee & Low, Macmillan, Penguin Random House, and Simon & Schuster, the government said.

The ConnectED program's move to furnish the poor with materials that can only be accessed with an electronic device may at first blush seem nonsensical. But the government said that 47 percent of households earning less than $30,000 annually have access to a mobile device.

"And as that number grows, particularly with the help of the private-sector commitments of ConnectED and schools’ own adoption of digital tools, it presents an opportunity to support kids who want to continue learning beyond the classroom walls, in their own homes and communities after school," the White House said.

Apple has also pledged to provide $100 million worth of devices to poor schools.

In announcing the e-book donations while at a library in a poor section of Washington, DC, the president conceded he liked the old-school feel of paper when reading books. But, he said, "we live in the digital age" and e-books are "easy to carry."