Golden Jubilee: Balbharati opens online archives for public

Speaking on the occasion, Chandramani Borkar, Director, Balbharati said, “In our first year, we had sold 22 lakh books worth Rs 84 lakh, and now, the number of books has reached 19 crore, while sales have gone up to Rs 400 crore.”

State Education Minister Vinod Tawde inaugurated the online archive and the unicode Marathi font on ebalbharati, the official website on Balbharati. “I congratulate all the employees of Balbharati on the successful completion of 50 years. However, the next 50 years are going to be crucial, as the quality of education in other parts of the world is constantly improving. We have to match their quality because the younger generation is getting smarter as they have access to the internet,” he said, adding that Balbharati should share its process of creating the syllabus and printing of books with everyone in order to maintain clarity.

Tawde also said that in the coming year, there would be a new chapter on the management skills of Chhatrapati Shivaji, which have been in hindsight till now. “Our books only depict Shivaji’s encounter with Afzal Khan, Shahistakhan and Aurangzeb. It is important to mention these things; but even more important is to make students aware about Shivaji’s take on environment and his management skills. We’re going to add about eight pages about this in history books,” he said.