Are Std VIII textbooks promoting IT brands

The state board is working as brand managers for Microsoft, or so it would seem. The book cover of the subject guide to teachers of Information Technology for Std VIII students has an in-the-face Microsoft brand name and logo.

That apart, the syllabus, covered in MSc IT by University of Mumbai, holds forth on products marketed by private players such as Microsoft and Oracle. A team of educationists has pointed out to the education department that the IT teaching in the state is product-driven rather than technology-based.

“It is not fair to have brand names mentioned in the text and logos shown in the illustrations. Students are taught Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint rather than softwares which are liberally licensed,” said G Nagarjuna, chairperson, Free Software Foundation India (FSFI).

Free softwares are those which grant users the right to study, change, improve its design, copy and distribute it free of cost, like Linux system and Open Office. Another educationist, Jitendra Shah, former VJTI professor also agreed with Nagarjuna. “We are only creating a favourable monopoly in the market. Why is the government promoting specific brands in the name of education,” he questioned.

An IIT Bombay professor, Sridhar Iyer, has already designed curriculum for the primary classes in IT which contains broad-based knowledge. These books are also being translated in Hindi and Marathi. “We have proposed to the government that we can help in designing a curriculum that focuses on developing IT skills rather than specific usage skills,” said Nagarjuna.

However, the education department officials shrugged off the issue claiming that the curriculum designing is not handled by the government and passed the buck on to the Maharashtra State Bureau of Text Book Production and Curriculum Research, an autonomous body.