If Linux is going to reach the school classroom, the success or failure of such a project would probably depend on:
- acceptance of Linux by teachers and students
- availability of Linux support, when needed
- ability to get earlier-generation hardware to work with suitable versions of Linux.
These are almost the same reasons cited for the failure of the RedEscolar project in Mexico:
http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,45737,00.html
The most important reason, neither listed above nor by the people behind RedEscolar, was that they tried to spread GNU/Linux the operating system without first spreading the underlying message of software freedom. Trying to spread GNU/Linux without first ensuring that the message of software freedom has been put across and well understood is like putting the proverbial cart before the horse. Like trying to build a grand structure without laying the appropriate foundation -- such a structure might sustain itself for some time, but eventually it is bound to collapse.
Failures like RedEscolar can be avoided only by ensuring that we first educate people about the virtues of software freedom and by creating conditions in which people *ask* for free software only because it is free and not for any other reason. The spread of GNU/Linux, or any other free OS for that matter, can only be a consequence of the spread of the message of software freedom, not the other way around.