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Hello, A good friend of mine sent me the following piece of information. I am quoting him verbatim here ---
- --- About the storm in the tea cup about Kerala schools going 100% GNU/Linux, I am cynical about the story.
1. The decision was made by the previous government, several months back and there is absolutely no reason to make such a hue and cry about this right now; unless you want to attract some attention of the wrong kind.
2. The decision, AFAIK, applies to High Schools only. +2 schools have to teach Tally, (in the commerce stream) so will stick to the proprietary OS and/or dual boot.
3. Within the government, a massive software deployment is going on, under the name ``Modernisation of Government Programme'', or MGP. This is entirely M$ based, and govt. servants are provided a 7 working day training on using such exotic programmes like MS Word, MS Excel, etc. The training includes how to type Malayalam.
How will the community counter this MGP thing?
The training is being provided by Institute of management in Government, Kerala. Have a look at their web page - made in good quality M$ FrontPage. (http://www.imgkerala.org/) - ---
Regards, BG
- -- Baishampayan Ghose b.ghose@gnu.org.in Free Software Foundation of India http://www.gnu.org.in/
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On Sat, 2006-09-02 at 15:40 +0530, Baishampayan Ghose wrote:
A good friend of mine sent me the following piece of information. I am quoting him verbatim here ---
About the storm in the tea cup about Kerala schools going 100% GNU/Linux, I am cynical about the story.
- The decision was made by the previous government, several months back and there is absolutely no reason to make such a hue and cry about this right now; unless you want to attract some attention of the wrong kind.
True. I think I had said this in an earlier mail. This was prompted by the weight the leftist teachers union put behind free software.
- The decision, AFAIK, applies to High Schools only. +2 schools have to teach Tally, (in the commerce stream) so will stick to the proprietary OS and/or dual boot.
Yes. Free Software was first introduced in the eighth standard last year. This year, it has been extended to the ninth standard, and the next year it will be extended to the tenth. Hopefully, Free Software will be introduced in the eleventh and twelfth standards in subsequent years.
- Within the government, a massive software deployment is going on, under the name ``Modernisation of Government Programme'', or MGP. This is entirely M$ based, and govt. servants are provided a 7 working day training on using such exotic programmes like MS Word, MS Excel, etc. The training includes how to type Malayalam.
Largely true. But the MGP also has some Free Software running. Arun should know more about it.
How will the community counter this MGP thing?
We should try to influence the government. Since the programme is already in an advanced stage, it may not be easy. But we have some hope since the present CM supports FS.
Best
- Within the government, a massive software deployment is going on, under the name ``Modernisation of Government Programme'', or MGP. This is entirely M$ based, and govt. servants are provided a 7 working day training on using such exotic programmes like MS Word, MS Excel, etc. The training includes how to type Malayalam.
Largely true. But the MGP also has some Free Software running. Arun should know more about it.
The MGP's Programme Perfomance Monitoring System is One of the major Free software project for Govt of Kerala. It is a web based PHP/MysQL application Developed by Keltron. But sadly they are still using M$ on user end.
As a part recently published study I did for SPACE on "Free software usge in Public Enterprises", I covered the Details abt this project. I am quoting the respected part here
<snip>
Project Title: Program Performance monitoring system (PPMS)
Synopsis:
Program Performance monitoring system (PPMS) is a system developed Keltron (Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation) for tracking the performance of various departments as part of the Modernising Governance Program initiated by Government of Kerala.
Program Performance monitoring system (PPMS) Client : MGP Department, Govt. of Kerala Developed by: Keltron Team Size: 5 people Development Time: 28 months (ongoing) Technologies :PHP, MySQL, Apache, GNU/Linux User base: PPMS1: 17 Departments, 93 Initiatives PPMS2: 2584 Institutions, Statewide ebandham: statewide Sevanamudra: 42 institutions, statewide
Project Details:
Program Performance Monitoring System (PPMS) is a large project that addresses all sectors of governance. The system is developed by Keltron and built with popular PHP/MySQL solution.
PPMS contain 4 major projects. The first project PPMS1 is a performance monitoring system for 17 government departments. It covers a total of 93 initiatives of these departments, 50 of them in the first phase. The system uses result base management methods to measure performance based on impacts, outputs, outcomes & activities.
PPMS2 is a set of service delivery projects. It addresses performance monitoring of 2584 institutions statewide like schools and community health centers. It mainly deals with fund flow management, administrative payment orders etc.
The Third project is a human resource module named e-bandham. It monitors attendance, leave, travel allowances etc of program support executives
The fourth project is Sevanamudra, Quality Improvement Program & Performance Certification Mechanism for government institutions.
In the first stage, it covers 42 institutions.
"All these projects need statewide implementation. So it is a must that we avoid softwares that need heavy licensing costs in order to reduce the expenses. Another issue is cross platform compatibility. PHP/MySQL are very popular packages meeting all requirements that are very easy to study and code We also used many PHP packages like FPDF (free PDF), which allows one to generate reports in PDF formats without the use of Proprietary Softwares , JPGraph, a Graph creating library in PHP for generating graphs etc." says Uma, a main developer of this project.
</snip>
How will the community counter this MGP thing?
We should try to influence the government. Since the programme is already in an advanced stage, it may not be easy. But we have some hope since the present CM supports FS.
The study we did shows 95% of successfull E-gov projects in Kerala are on Free software. It may be a good lobbying tool to make all computerisation projects (including user end) to free software.
~ regards
Anivar Aravind http://movingrepublic.org
Hi,
I very sorry to say that your friend is too much cynical.
First of all there is no point in linking MGP to Schools.
Secondly no one tried to create undue attention to schools project in Kerala. Richard's meeting with Education Minister of Kerala brought this project into media attention.
Consider following facts
1. 15,00,000 children learning about free software (philosophy and tools) 2. 16k teachers teaching about free software (20k more will join this group soon) 3. 20-35k mahines running GNU/Linux 4. 3000 Debian GNU/Linux distribution CDs distributed across the state for schools 5. Govt setting up teachers training and support facility for GNU/Linux
regards arun.
-
Anivar Aravind -
Arun M -
Baishampayan Ghose -
V. Sasi Kumar