Balbharati, which publishes the textbooks for the Secondary School Certificate exams, has copyrighted its material, restricting private publishers from issuing supplementary books for the academic year 2018-2019.
Class X students, scrambling to buy supplementary resource material (guides and digest) before the academic year, will be left anxious. Balbharati, which publishes the textbooks for the Secondary School Certificate exams, has copyrighted its material, restricting private publishers from issuing supplementary books for the academic year 2018-2019. The textbooks are the base for the supplementary resource material.
Parents have been enquiring with bookshops about the arrival of guides and digests, but it's a question no publisher has an answer to as the bureau has vowed to take legal action against anyone referring to their textbook without permission.
On March 9 the Maharashtra State Bureau of Textbook Production and Curriculum Research (Balbharati) in Pune announced through state newspapers that in order to curb commercialization of education, they would license all material found in Balbharati books from Standard I to XII.
This applies to all textbooks in all languages, starting from the new academic year. The notice also stated that publishing any book with excerpts from a Balbharati textbook, without proper permission, will be liable for legal action.
Latifa Khan, mother of Class X student, said, "We could not get any guide for my son who will be appearing for SSC. At least 50 per cent of the students prefer using supplementary books." "It becomes difficult to form answers from a textbook," said Pratham Vora, who will be appearing for his SSC exams in 2019. "Supplementary books are our saviour with their readymade answers. I have gone to the market a couple of times to check for the books, but they are still not available."
"We are waiting for the trade notification from the state government," said Umesh Gwalani, business head of Chetana Publication, adding, "Until there is further clarification on notification and unless we know the cost of the trade license, no publisher will be in a position to publish any supplementary books."
Apart from causing anxiety to parents, Gwalani said the move will cause tremendous business loss to publishers. Study material for Class 10 forms a major chunk of our business," Gwalani said.
Licence act
On March 9, Balbharati announced that they would license all the material found in their text books from Standard I to XII
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Students")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}