THE PENGUIN GOES TO SCHOOL: LINUX TO DEBUT IN GOA CLASSROOMS By Frederick Noronha
GOA, India. Jan 10 -- 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 to 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. -- Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa * India BYTESFORALL www.bytesforall.org GOAPIX www.goacom.com/wallpapers/ GOARESEARCH www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/1503 NEWS www.goacom.com/news/ ------------ ***GKD is an initiative of the Global Knowledge Partnership*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.globalknowledge.org>
