My email with some more info to point out he other hand of the government - DIETY.
Hon Minister,
Thank you for inviting comments for the New Education Policy
I refer to section 4.9 titled "Use of ICT in Education"
It is imperative in today's world to leverage technology and internet for helping better education and we totally agree with this. However we are disappointed that there is no emphasis on making this based on Free and Open Source software.
Not only is Free Software cost effective, there are many other benefits.
Quoting the pioneer of Free Software, Richard Stallman,
"Free software permits students to learn how software works. Some students, natural-born programmers, on reaching their teens yearn to learn everything there is to know about their computer and its software. They are intensely curious to read the source code of the programs that they use every day.
Proprietary software rejects their thirst for knowledge: it says, “The knowledge you want is a secret—learning is forbidden!” Proprietary software is the enemy of the spirit of education, so it should not be tolerated in a school, except as an object for reverse engineering.
Free software encourages everyone to learn. The free software community rejects the “priesthood of technology”, which keeps the general public in ignorance of how technology works; we encourage students of any age and situation to read the source code and learn as much as they want to know."
The GOI having taken cognisance of the matter has initiated a policy to use and promote FOSS, thru DIETY.. http://deity.gov.in/content/free-and-open-source-software
To quote DIETY "FOSS is stipulated by a liberal licensing policy that makes it possible to be obtained free of charge along with the source code, which can be modified by the user as per requirements. Advantages like increasing interoperability, developing local capacity/ industry, reducing costs, achieving vendor independence, enabling localization, reducing piracy/copyright infringements and increasing growth of knowledge-based society are among the compelling reasons for adopting FOSS. India’s strength in Information Technology can be utilized to develop products using FOSS which will help in bridging the digital divide with significant cost savings and facilitate the creation of a knowledge society. Indian industry/SMEs can benefit from the liberal licensing norms of FOSS which enables software to be freely modified and distributed."
Further, there are exemplary examples of the use of FOSS in education in several states in India. Kerala is an outstanding example.
The advantages of using free software like *Bharat Operating System Solutions - *BOSS Linux - developed by CDAC is all too obvious, given the need to support the PM's Make in India initiative, savings in foreign exchange, security and privacy. BOSS has enhanced Desktop Environment integrated with Indian language support, thus permitting learning in the state's local language.
In reference to this I strongly urge the department to include that all software used by schools should be Free and Open Source.
Thanking you, Your truly J. T. D'souza
On Tue, Jul 12, 2016 at 1:18 PM, J T Dsouza jtd1959@gmail.com wrote:
Thanks Rushab.
Sending an almost verbatim copy from my email.
On Tue, Jul 12, 2016 at 11:40 AM, Rushabh Mehta rmehta@gmail.com wrote:
" For the first time, the Government of India is embarking on a
time-bound grassroots consultative process, which will enable the Ministry of HRD to reach out to individuals across the country through over 2.75 lakh direct consultations while also taking input from citizens online " - http://mhrd.gov.in/nep-new
We all know the benefits of FOSS and also the miserable state of FOSS
in our country. Needless to say that the root cause lies in ICT Education.
The draft, which is available for download, does not give any
importance to open source. It only refers it once or twice.
Please do send email to nep.edu@gov.in by 31st July 2016, in order
that Free and Open Source Software would play the central role in ICT Education.
Thanks Milind, Done
Here is my email if it can be use for someone:
Hon Minister,
Thank you for inviting comments for the New Education Policy
I refer to section 4.9 titled "Use of ICT in Education"
It is imperative in today's world to leverage technology and internet for helping better education and we totally agree with this. However we are disappointed that there is no emphasis on making this based on Free and Open Source software.
Not only is Free Software cost effective, there are many other benefits.
Quoting the pioneer of Free Software, Richard Stallman,
"Free software permits students to learn how software works. Some students, natural-born programmers, on reaching their teens yearn to learn everything there is to know about their computer and its software. They are intensely curious to read the source code of the programs that they use every day.
Proprietary software rejects their thirst for knowledge: it says, “The knowledge you want is a secret—learning is forbidden!” Proprietary software is the enemy of the spirit of education, so it should not be tolerated in a school, except as an object for reverse engineering.
Free software encourages everyone to learn. The free software community rejects the “priesthood of technology”, which keeps the general public in ignorance of how technology works; we encourage students of any age and situation to read the source code and learn as much as they want to know."
In reference to this I strongly urge the department to include that all software used by schools should be Free and Open Source.
Thanking you,
Rushabh Mehta
Founder & CEO Frappé Technologies Pvt Ltd Mumbai