hiyee Luggers,
This is a draft as posted by "Khuzaima A. Lakdawala" on the fsf list. I intend to enhace and modify the proposal to suit our needs so as to speear ahead our movement in taking gnu/linux and free software in general to the budding students of our country. Pliss go thro the proposal and letter that we will be drafting asap tp be dispatched on either the ilug-bom/fsf letter head to all the technical institutes in and around maharashtra.
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There should be no doubt that the most important places where free software should be advocated and propagated are schools and colleges. Instead of trying to wean away people at a later stage when they are used to, or worse, addicted to proprietary software, we must educate people about free software when their exposure to proprietary software is minimal and when they are most amenable to absorbing progressive ideas and beliefs.
The long term goal of LUGs also should of course be to ensure that the school and college syllabi are free of all proprietary software and that students are introduced at an early stage to the simple philosophy of free software. This would require petitioning the various bodies responsible for framing these syllabi and that involves going through a labyrinth of bureaucratic red tape. This obviously is not an easy goal to achieve although we must make a start on this front sooner rather than later.
In the mean time, we can involve ourselves in a more grass roots approach of contacting individual schools and colleges and requesting them to arrange talks on free software to be given by local volunteers of LUGs. This approach has no major bureaucratic hurdles, except perhaps for the convincing of individual principals or head masters, and promises the immediate benefit of more and more young and impressionable minds getting exposed to the simple philosophy of free software.
Here's a draft plan:
Volunteers in each town/city/suburb should compile a list of schools where they could go and give a talk on free software and submit this list to LUG. The LUG should then in turn send request letters to these chools, including the contact details of the particular volunteers whom the school should contact for scheduling the talk.
A preliminary draft of the request letter follows:
To, The Principal name and address of school
Dear sir or madam,
Sub: A request for arranging a talk on Free Software in your institution.
The Linux Users Group is a non-profit organisation formed for the purpose of advocating and propagating the use and development of Free Software in India. Please see the enclosed literature for an explanation of and a brief introduction to Free Software. Please also visit our website at www.ilug-bom.org.in and the Free Software Foundations website at www.fsf.org.in for further information on our activities and goals.
As part of our efforts to spread awareness and educate people about Free Software, we have started a program of holding talks in various technical institutions with the aim of exposing youngsters to the simple philosophy behind Free Software and educating them about the moral, ethical, and practical advantages of using and developing Free Software. We believe that this exposure is important for all students who have any interest or connection with computers and computer software, as it will enable them to make a more informed choice, based on virtues other than mere technical and marketing facts, when the time comes for them to choose which software to study, use, buy or develop.
Sir / madam, we hereby request you to arrange for such a talk to be given in your institution by one or more local volunteers of our organisation. This talk would span over 5-6 hours. We also would like to arrange for a 2-3 day workshop on gnu/Linux to teach the students about the basics of using Linux and serve as a platform for them to learn and clarify the basic concepts of GNU/Linux.
The names and contact details of the volunteers with whom you can discuss the schedule of the talk are as follows:
1. volunteer name and contact details 2. Volunteer name and contact details
We propose addressing this talk to students of Years SE,TE nd BE. However, we leave the actual composition of the target audience entirely up to your discretion and judgment depending on the current level of exposure of your students to computers and computer software.
You may please distribute the enclosed literature on Free Software among the intended audience as a preparatory step in advance of the talk.
Thank you very much for your cooperation and time.
Yours sincerely,
Sd.
for Linux Users Gropus & Free Software Foundation of India
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