Maharashtra´s copyright policy makes education unaffortable

By Anubha Sinha

 

In an alarming development for Indian students, Balbharati – the Maharashtra state bureau of textbook production and curriculum research – has issued a copyright policy that forces all publishers, digital educational-content creators, and coaching classes to obtain expensive licenses for developing material directly or indirectly relating to Balbharati’s content. The stated object of the policy is to prevent commercialization of Balbharati’s physical and digital material.

Balbharati is responsible for setting curriculum and content for Classes 1-10, which is followed by Maharashtra state board schools. It is estimated that that around 85,000 schools in Maharashtra follow Balbharati’s prescribed content and syllabus, and the policy is set to affect students’ access to affordable supplementary material in state board schools, especially – most of which belong to the vernacular-rural section of society.

The government faced a backlash from various groups after the policy was released last week.

Source of the article: http://www.atimes.com/maharashtras-copyright-policy-makes-education-unaffordable/

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Anubha Sinha

Is a lawyer- researcher and works at the Centre for Internet and Society, India.