[Reader-list] Pinguin take-over in Goa class-rooms (fwd)

[Patrice Riemens]

(From the GoaNet mailing list)

---- Forwarded message from Frederick Noronha <fred at bytesforall.org> -----

Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2002 12:17:39 +0530 (IST)
Subject: [goanews] NEWS: The penguin goes to school, Linux for Goa classrooms...



THE PENGUIN GOES TO SCHOOL: LINUX TO DEBUT IN GOA CLASSROOMS

By Frederick Noronha, Indo-Asian News Service

PANAJI (Goa), Dec 27 -- After struggling for years to get access to
non-pirated software to run their computer labs, schools in the western
coastal state of Goa have hit a bonanza that seems too good to be true. 

Red Hat India, part of a prominent global corporation dealing in 'open
source' or 'free' software, has come up with an innovative plan, which was
promptly seized by volunteers pushing for the speedy computerisation of
schools here. Under this, schools will get access not just all the software
they need, but also to free training for teachers and volunteers.

What makes this project innovatively different is that it's based on Linux,
or GNU/Linux, an operating system (OS) which seeks to make the software
industry 'open'.

'Free software' means it is freely distributable and free of restrictions on
seeing, using, copying, modifying and re-distributing the original source code
or software based on it. This, in turn, makes the software moderately or
affordably priced, even in countries like India, and legally copyable.

In a few weeks time, volunteers are to get training in a project that could
sustainably meet schools' software needs. 

Young Linux enthusiasts and volunteers -- including some engineering college
students -- will be trained in installing the software. Later, Red Hat and
their training partners are to train teachers in using this decade-old
operating system which is now making a dent across the globe.

Red Hat Indian training manager Shankar Iyer told this correspondent that
his firm would provide Linux as a standard operating system (OS) for schools
in Goa. "In this process, Red Hat and an NGO (Goa Computers in Schools
Project) have come together for a social cause," said Iyer.

The Goa Computers in Schools Project is a coalition of educationists,
concerned citizens and expat Goans who feel the need to speeding up the pace
of computer education in this small state. It was launched in the
mid-nineties, and has been both inspiring and helping schools to get
computer infrastructure faster. It has also raised funds among expat
communities towards this goal. 

By this understanding, the Goa Computers in Schools Project will work to
implement the project here, while Red Hat India will provide training to
teachers and volunteers at its own cost.

Red Hat's approach is to 'catch them young', and agrees that introducing
students to 'free' computer operating systems like its own at the school
level itself could help build an edge over proprietorial software like
Windows which currently dominates the desktop segment worldwide.

Currently, a project of this type is unique for India, where schools have
been struggling with un-affordable software prices. "Red Hat is willing to
extend it across the country (without any financial implications for the
schools)," said Iyer.

"The concept of open source and its advantages of having the source code in
hand, will be of great advantage for children. Schools and parents will not
be burdened with high investments, on regular intervals. School also need
not keep spending on upgrading its machines on a regular basis," Red Hat's
Iyer contended.

Daryl Martyris, a US-based expat management consultant with
PriceWaterHouseCoopers and key GCSP campaigner, told this correspondent: "We
have been trying very hard over the last two years to persuade Microsoft to
donate OS software and MS Office or sell it at concessional rates." 

But this didn't work. "Since the (once-used US) computers we ship are
"wiped" of their OS by the donors for liability reasons, and do not want to
encourage piracy of MS products, we have started to ship Linux OS
installation kits with the computers," said Martyris.

So, the Red Hat India offer to provide free training came as a bonanza.
"Training for our volunteers and support to the schools is very tempting,
since it complements our efforts in this direction," said Martyris. 

Red Hat India told this correspondent that it has drawn up a complete
schedule to train the volunteers, starting from January 2002. The cost of
the training would be estimated to about Rs 150,000, according to Red Hat
India's Shankar Iyer.

But this figure hides another reality -- non-pirated proprietorial software
needed to run on just the 360 computers that are being shipped into Goa
would cost millions. 

"This is a very good initiative," commented Dr Gurunandan Bhat, till
recently head of Goa University's computer science department. "The spread
of (useful open source technologies like) Linux depends on how quickly we
take it across to schools," he added.

But Bhat cautioned that the effort's project would hinge on building up a
"stable group of volunteers" and this is where NGOs could play an important
role in making things possible. ~

Red Hat India suggested that if this project took off well in Goa, it could
be replicated in other places across India, considered by some as a
software-superpower in the making, but which ironically often can't afford
prices of 'legal' proprietary software for its schools.

But implementing this project is not going to be easy. Larger, more
ambitious, attempts have faced glitches.

For instance, in 1998, the Mexican government embarked on an ambitious
attempt to equip its vast and under-funded school system with computers
running the free operating system GNU/Linux. It expected to save up to $124
million in software licenses, and part of this could go to buy computer
hardware for some 126,000 public schools.

Mexico's RedEscolar project inspired Brazil and Argentina, but "fewer than
20" out of 4500 schools could run GNU/Linux machines, primarily due to a
lack of support, both technical and political. 

Besides a chronic scarcity of personnel familiar with GNU/Linux, a lack of
compatible hardware also caused roadblocks in plans.

Goa-based GCSP representative Anit Saxena admits that the job ahead poses
some daunting tasks, but says efforts are on to make it work. "Getting
things done in Goa can take time," he says. 

One other problem that the proponents of 'free software' would face is the
Goa Board syllabus, which currently lays down that particular Microsoft
products have to be taught to students. 

But efforts are on to make the syllabus 'brand-neutral', so that concepts
can be taught to students, instead of focussing on familiarity with
particular software products. Linux proponents point out that all tasks
needed to be undertaken by computer users and software programmers can be
easily done using 'free' and 'open' software tools too. 

GNU/Linux software has won praise from techies across the globe. It is
particularly apt for running 'server' computers. Of late, major Linux
packages (called 'distributions') have become more user friendly, even for
desktop-computer users.

But compatibility with some printers, scanners, fax machines and sound-cards
has been an issue with some distributions of Linux. Installation is somewhat
more difficult than a Windows OS, though experts say once everything
everything is running, day-to-day use of Linux and open source applications
is not much different from using Windows.

In some schools in Goa -- like the elite Sharada Mandir outside Panaji --
piracy-free Linux software has already been installed in the school lab. "We
are keen to employ Linux solutions too," says Ashwin D.Naik, a UK-educated
engineer and management expert, whose family-run trust runs the Adarsh
Vidyalaya School in the South Goa town of Margao.  

Meanwhile, the Goa Computers in Schools Project has announced that the duty
waiver for the import of once-used computers has come through. Some 360
computers are expected to be shipped in, to reach schools across the state.
(ENDS)

**************************************************************************
Interested in volunteering? Contact Daryl Martyris <dmartyris at hotmail.com>
**************************************************************************





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