[Ilugc] [FYI] Gujarat to introduce Linux in schools
- From: arulalant@xxxxxxxxx (Arulalan T)
- Date: Mon Jul 12 00:35:09 2010
Good news below.
From ToI Ahmedabad Edition 11/07/2010 Page 7
Gujarat to introduce Linux in schools
Rajiv Shah | TNN
Gandhinagar: The Gujarat government is all set to follow Kerala?s
Marxist-led Left-Democratic Front (LDF) government in IT education in
schools. Following Kerala schools, it has decided to use only Linux
operating system, the opensource free software, in the computers
installed in 3,650 schools.
Linux will also be installed in another state-run 2,750 schools, where
computers will be installed this year. Freely downloadable, Linux is
internationally regarded as alternative to Microsoft Windows.
?If the experiment in schools is successful, we will go ahead and do
it for computers in Sachivalaya, too,? a top IT aide to chief minister
Narendra Modi said, adding, ?Installation of Microsoft Windows
software on each computer costs Rs 5,000. With Linux, we will save
huge sums.?
Though there was initial resistance to it in Gujarat?s top powerdom,
the big cost of maintaining massive Windows-based infrastructure
became the main reason for abandoning Windows solutions and moving to
Linux applications.
It is estimated that the state government will be saving close to Rs
100 crore by installing Linux in schools. Call it anti-MNC Marxist
bias, but in Kerala schools even mandatory IT tests are held in Linux.
Before opting for Linux, the state education department officials are
learnt to have held tough negotiations for installing Microsoft
Windows operating system. On an average, each school has 11 computers
and one LCD screen to give computer training to children.
?If it the Microsoft Windows?costs Rs 5,000 in market, negotiations
helped us to bring down the price to Rs 3,000 per computers. But after
intense discussions involving IT experts, it was decided to do away
with Microsoft Windows and go for Linux,? the Modi aide said.
State education secretary Hasmukh Adhia told TOI that computer
teachers in government schools are still not fully accustomed to
Linux, but the state government has begun training them in batches.
The National Institute for Information Technology (NIIT) and Educamp
are carrying out training in phases. ?It does not require more than
two days to teach computer teachers how to use Linux, as it is easy to
download and work on computers,? Adhia said.
--
Regards,
Arulalan.T
Kanchi Linux User Group Rocks !
http://kanchilug.wordpress.com
My Experiments In Linux are here
http://tuxcoder.wordpress.com
Other related posts:
- » [Ilugc] [FYI] Gujarat to introduce Linux in schools - Arulalan T