Free education Not likley

The BBC has suspended its free online education website after complaints from commercial providers.

BBC Jam offered resources and assistance to school children aged five to 16 based around the national curriculum. It went online in 2006 and was rolling out service incrementally, aiming for full coverage in 2008.

The site has 170,000 registered users and employed 200 staff, whose future is now uncertain. The Jam budget was £150m, £45m of which was intended to be used for commissioning from independent private-sector companies. It was approved for launch by both the UK and European Union in 2003.

Following the fully-publicised "hard" launch of Jam last October, paid-for online education providers complained to the European Commission (EC) that the service was unfairly hurting their business. The Beeb had already planned a review of Jam's market impact for later in 2007, but the EC asked for a separate one.

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Tagged Under : BBC Jam Educate Free Complaint

Comments for this post:
"Poster: Narelle
@ 01:47:07 am on March 24, 2007.
Pathetic. Turning education into some sort of pinyata
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