Snehal,
I am curious on what is students' take in your department on software freedom. On the other note, even if the students don't care about freedom, it is the institute's responsibility to not force proprietary software on the students. If the institute is not aware of the free software ideas, then they at least have the responsibility to listen to students, parents or other people who raise these issues. Many people from the institute do not even listen when we raise such issues.