[Iniciativa Educação Aberta, Link (CC-BY-SA)] The Brazilian Ministry of Education (MEC) published an ordinance on the 16th of may, that determines that any educational resources paid for by the Ministry, which is to be used for basic education (K-12) should be open educational resources, giving permissions for anyone to “access, use, adapt and distribute at no cost”. It further emphasises the importance of open formats and standards whenever technically viable.
There has been a recent movement towards the use of open licenses in significant Ministry programs. This includes the pioneering use of open licenses for all educational resources produced through the Open University of Brazil program; the mandatory use of an open license for all educational material in a nationwide robotics for education purchase and the use of an open license (for some resources) in the nationwide textbook purchase program.
This is the result of three years of advocacy and support by the Open Education Initiative (OEI) in partnership with dedicated public servants. The scope and reach of this ordinance sets a significant example in the public sphere. We continue our work to promote initiative such as this in other agencies who are part of our Working Group on OER within the Ministry, assisting them in promoting open education and OER policies and follow-through.
[Click here for further information in Portuguese.]
