30 May
2016
30 May
'16
3:30 p.m.
Hi,
On 27 may 2016, Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher
Secondary Education has given a reply to my notice. Maharashtra State
Board was neglecting Open Source directives given by MHRD. Though the
Circular in this regard was issued, it was published in the education
booklet "Shikshan Sankraman" !. The circular as Important as this, which
could have saved huge amounts for Schools, must have been given to
Schools directly and it must have been given wide publicity in major
news papers.
The Board's claim that by putting a note - "Schools and Colleges can use
Open Source Software" on index page, they have followed directions given
by MHRD is ridiculous. In the remaining pages of the reply, Board has
given photocopies copies of the changes they have made in 2016-17 text
books to be printed soon, and they have clarified further that Open
Source can be used in "Theory as well as in Practicals" which is very
important.
Note that MHRD has used the word "PREFER" while Board is cleverly using
"CAN" !
Anyway, I assume that this is only a symbolic exit of Microsoft from
State's Schools Education.
This covers State Schools and Junior Colleges in Maharashtra. But
University Education too is compelling degree colleges to use
proprietary software. Situation is somewhat better in Engineering
courses but in the courses such as Computer Applications (TYBcom), there
are softwares like MS Excel and Visual Basic. Also there are direct
questions in the examination on the commands used in Excel and VB. I am
going to send similar letter to Mumbai University too.
Also the course MS-ACIT has been made mandatory for teachers. This
course is exclusively an advertisement of Microsoft and other other
proprietary software. Since after removing proprietary software from
school. This course, which itself is a violation of MHRD notification,
becomes meaningless for teachers. Hence appropriate changes are
necessary in this course curriculum. We have to follow this matter in
Education Department.
I request all to help Schools in Maharashtra aware of the purpose and
significance of this change and make open source movement stronger.
Otherwise it will remain only on paper.
http://www.mediafire.com/view/seufdy593ocbaiu/Notice_To_SSC-HSC_Board.jpg
http://www.mediafire.com/view/uccych8u0hnqt6g/Notice_To_SSC-HSC_Board_%28Re…
http://www.mediafire.com/download/nouxfd9a1hxnwd4/MHRD_-_Remove_Microsoft.p…
-- Milind
.jpg){kind=link}
1 Jun
1 Jun
5:42 a.m.
Milind,
Congrats on your excellent follow-up. Every small victory matters. It is unfortunate that
the people in government don't really care. Let us know what help you need from the
community.
On 27 may 2016, Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education has
given a reply to my notice. Maharashtra State Board was neglecting Open Source directives
given by MHRD. Though the Circular in this regard was issued, it was published in the
education booklet "Shikshan Sankraman" !. The circular as Important as this,
which could have saved huge amounts for Schools, must have been given to Schools directly
and it must have been given wide publicity in major news papers.
The Board's claim that by putting a note - "Schools and Colleges can use Open
Source Software" on index page, they have followed directions given by MHRD is
ridiculous. In the remaining pages of the reply, Board has given photocopies copies of the
changes they have made in 2016-17 text books to be printed soon, and they have clarified
further that Open Source can be used in "Theory as well as in Practicals" which
is very important.
Note that MHRD has used the word "PREFER" while Board is cleverly using
"CAN" !
Anyway, I assume that this is only a symbolic exit of Microsoft from State's Schools
Education.
This covers State Schools and Junior Colleges in Maharashtra. But University Education
too is compelling degree colleges to use proprietary software. Situation is somewhat
better in Engineering courses but in the courses such as Computer Applications (TYBcom),
there are softwares like MS Excel and Visual Basic. Also there are direct questions in the
examination on the commands used in Excel and VB. I am going to send similar letter to
Mumbai University too.
Also the course MS-ACIT has been made mandatory for teachers. This course is exclusively
an advertisement of Microsoft and other other proprietary software. Since after removing
proprietary software from school. This course, which itself is a violation of MHRD
notification, becomes meaningless for teachers. Hence appropriate changes are necessary in
this course curriculum. We have to follow this matter in Education Department.
I request all to help Schools in Maharashtra aware of the purpose and significance of
this change and make open source movement stronger. Otherwise it will remain only on
paper.
http://www.mediafire.com/view/seufdy593ocbaiu/Notice_To_SSC-HSC_Board.jpg
http://www.mediafire.com/view/uccych8u0hnqt6g/Notice_To_SSC-HSC_Board_%28Re…
http://www.mediafire.com/download/nouxfd9a1hxnwd4/MHRD_-_Remove_Microsoft.p…
4 Jun
4 Jun
5:38 a.m.
Thanks Rushabh. Since goal of FOSS activist or FOSS supporting people is
unique, everyone can offer little help in his/her own way.
Only using linux individually is a great thing but that is not enough.
IMHO we should try to increase number of linux installations especially
in schools, colleges and government organizations.
In schools, the hurdle I noted was fear of schools/parents that direct
questions would be asked in the examination on proprietary software. Now
that this hurdle is removed, at least in State Schools of Maharashtra,
you can convince parents or school managements not to spend money on
acquiring licenses of these products. AFAIK, CBSE curriculum is based on
open source softwares. So you can also request CBSE schools to use FOSS
and not to purchase proprietary products.
I have just installed linux in the house of one 10th std student by
convincing his parents.
I have also contacted Managements of two schools in Thane. I offered
free help in computerizing result processing for them. (At present they
are doing the work manually). After that I informed them about FOSS and
requested to give two Machines where I would install linux. Work would
be done in libre base giving teachers proper training. Eventually the
school teachers would do the work independently and also can give
training to other schools in their vicinity (if they wish). Of course a
long term plan. There seems no short cut.
I could get support from 4 more people who are retired and know
computers little bit. Five of us would start this pilot project from
coming academic year.
Eradicating proprietary software from University Curriculum is a tough
task. We need to get directions from UGC or MHRD in this regard. In the
prestigious Digital India Project, Open Source plays a leading role (at
least on paper !), so one has to exploit it in our favor and get such
directions. Any suggestions in this regard are welcome.
(till then PIL is the only hope where this is one of the prayers !)
You can have your own ideas, perhaps more effective than mine. Please do
share them here.
On Wednesday 01 June 2016 11:12 AM, Rushabh Mehta wrote:
Milind,
Congrats on your excellent follow-up. Every small victory matters. It is unfortunate that
the people in government don't really care. Let us know what help you need from the
community.
2:14 p.m.
On Sat, Jun 4, 2016 at 11:08 AM, Milind Oka <oak445(a)gmail.com> wrote:
I could get support from 4 more people who are retired and know computers
little bit. Five of us would start this pilot project from coming academic
year.
Where about in Thane?
I am available, 4 days a week.
--
2:43 p.m.
Hi Guys,
Even I can put my efforts just let me know the timing and place, I can give some helping
hands :)
On 04-Jun-2016, at 7:44 PM, J T Dsouza
<jtd1959(a)gmail.com> wrote:
On Sat, Jun 4, 2016 at 11:08 AM, Milind Oka <oak445(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Cheers,
Ashish Jaiswal
I could get support from 4 more people who are retired and know computers
little bit. Five of us would start this pilot project from coming academic
year.
Where about in Thane?
I am available, 4 days a week.
--
--
http://mm.ilug-bom.org.in/mailman/listinfo/linuxers
4:25 p.m.
Thank you so much JT and Ashish !
One school is General Education Scociety's M H High School (This
management has few more schools, including Chabildas at Dadar)
Another one is Shiv Samarth Vidyalya. Both are at Walkable Distance from
Thane Station (W).
We had a preliminary meeting in the month of May with Vice Principals
and few teachers who are in the result process.
They have given sample photocopies of the last result documents (which
were made by hand). So we have to plan accordingly. Soon after the
school opens on 15th June, we will again arrange a meeting to discuss
the details and plan accordingly. Please be ready with your ideas and do
join us in the next meeting.
Thank you once again.
--- Milind
On Saturday 04 June 2016 07:44 PM, J T Dsouza wrote:
On Sat, Jun 4, 2016 at 11:08 AM, Milind Oka
<oak445(a)gmail.com> wrote:
I could get support from 4 more people who are retired and know computers
little bit. Five of us would start this pilot project from coming academic
year.
Where about in Thane?
I am available, 4 days a week.
4:27 p.m.
Great. Just give me the head’s up!!
On 04-Jun-2016, at 9:55 PM, Milind Oka
<oak445(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Thank you so much JT and Ashish !
One school is General Education Scociety's M H High School (This management has few
more schools, including Chabildas at Dadar)
Another one is Shiv Samarth Vidyalya. Both are at Walkable Distance from Thane Station
(W).
We had a preliminary meeting in the month of May with Vice Principals and few teachers
who are in the result process.
They have given sample photocopies of the last result documents (which were made by
hand). So we have to plan accordingly. Soon after the school opens on 15th June, we will
again arrange a meeting to discuss the details and plan accordingly. Please be ready with
your ideas and do join us in the next meeting.
Thank you once again.
--- Milind
On Saturday 04 June 2016 07:44 PM, J T Dsouza wrote:
Cheers,
Ashish Jaiswal
On Sat, Jun 4, 2016 at 11:08 AM, Milind Oka
<oak445(a)gmail.com> wrote:
--
http://mm.ilug-bom.org.in/mailman/listinfo/linuxers
I could get support from 4 more people who are retired and know computers
little bit. Five of us would start this pilot project from coming academic
year.
Where about in Thane?
I am available, 4 days a week.
5:39 p.m.
On Saturday 04 June 2016 09:55 PM, Milind Oka wrote:
Thank you so much JT and Ashish !
One school is General Education Scociety's M H High School (This
management has few more schools, including Chabildas at Dadar)
Another one is Shiv Samarth Vidyalya. Both are at Walkable Distance
from Thane Station (W).
We had a preliminary meeting in the month of May with Vice Principals
and few teachers who are in the result process.
They have given sample photocopies of the last result documents (which
were made by hand). So we have to plan accordingly. Soon after the
school opens on 15th June, we will again arrange a meeting to discuss
the details and plan accordingly. Please be ready with your ideas and
do join us in the next meeting.
Thank you once again.
--- Milind
Very Nice initiative. Milind,
We have recently created school server with some useful free (open
source) software as well as a course creation and course player software
with offline content of http://nroer.gov.in/ and many other useful things.
We have also created a DVD customized for schools with curated
software. It will be nice to use them
We need some help in creating a docker image of osm and wikipedia. If
any of you can help, that will also go to several schools in India.
We are currently working in about 1000 schools in four states. I will
be very happy to provide the docker images and USB drive images so that
the process is easy to install.
--
GN
--
--
Prof. Nagarjuna G.
Gnowledge lab, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education,
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
V.N. Purav Marg, Mankhurd, Mumbai 400088
6 Jun
6 Jun
5:45 a.m.
Thank you so much JT and Ashish !
One school is General Education Scociety's M H High School (This management has few
more schools, including Chabildas at Dadar)
Another one is Shiv Samarth Vidyalya. Both are at Walkable Distance from Thane Station
(W).
I have also volunteered in my daughter's school and am pushing them to adopt Linux
(Elementary OS) for their new computer lab.
Also teaching them a bit of code (Python)
https://medium.com/@rushabh_mehta/teaching-python-to-school-kids-76e86e2490…
We have recently created school server with some
useful free (open source) software as well as a course creation and course player software
with offline content of http://nroer.gov.in/ <http://nroer.gov.in/> and many other
useful things.
We have also created a DVD customized for schools with curated software. It will be
nice to use them
Interesting - but this is still content, maybe we can put together a resourcekit that we
can then forward to schools.
I am due a session with the school on getting them started on ElementaryOS. I will keep
listing stuff as I go along.
best,
Rushabh
3 May
3 May
7:06 a.m.
New subject: An Important News Regarding FOSS
Hi all,
In reply to my letter, SSC/HSC board had assured to implement the open
source policy in School Education. (Letter dated 19-05-2016)
They only put footnotes in Syllabus that "open source software can be
used in the ICT". Of course convincing Schools
and Jr Colleges to adopt FOSS on the basis of this letter and footnotes
would not have been possible. So I called it as "Symbolic Exit of
Microsoft".
But I am too happy to inform you that on 1 July 2016 a proper circular
was released which instructs schools and Jr colleges to prefer FOSS in
clear words.
I came to know about it through an HT article (Thanks to Dr Kamath, and
to Prof Tayyab Ali for pointing out this article). Consequently
"Maharashtra Times"
published another one.
I suppose this clears the most important hurdle in proliferation of FOSS.
Its great that we have started the monthly meetings at right time. In
the first meeting, we talked about visiting Schools and Colleges. With
this circular in hand
Schools, Students and Parents are little more likely to adopt FOSS. Also
students can now participate in our FOSS Projects (we have planned this
in first meeting) without dilemma as there will be no proprietary names
in Text Books and in question paper.
I am thankful to all members of this group and especially old members
for keeping us all connected for such a long time
and for always encouraging new members like me.
I take this opportunity to congratulate State Board for taking this
decision in favor of FOSS.
Links for two news paper articles and the circular :
http://www.mediafire.com/view/4nqamkqxy2ps03i/HT-1-5-17.jpg
http://www.mediafire.com/view/f4nhepll68s8fyy/MATA-2-5-17.jpg
http://www.mediafire.com/file/a6410kf396tkuyl/Board_Circular_-_1_July_2016.…
Thanks and Regards
Milind
-----------------------------------------------
Forwarding the old relevant thread for reference.
-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: Re: [ILUG-BOM] Exit Of Microsoft from School Education ?
Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2016 11:12:02 +0530
From: Rushabh Mehta <rmehta(a)gmail.com>
Reply-To: GNU/Linux Users Group, Mumbai, India
<linuxers(a)mm.ilug-bom.org.in>
To: GNU/Linux Users Group, Mumbai, India <linuxers(a)mm.ilug-bom.org.in>
Milind,
Congrats on your excellent follow-up. Every small victory matters. It is unfortunate that
the people in government don't really care. Let us know what help you need from the
community.
On 27 may 2016, Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education has
given a reply to my notice. Maharashtra State Board was neglecting Open Source directives
given by MHRD. Though the Circular in this regard was issued, it was published in the
education booklet "Shikshan Sankraman" !. The circular as Important as this,
which could have saved huge amounts for Schools, must have been given to Schools directly
and it must have been given wide publicity in major news papers.
The Board's claim that by putting a note - "Schools and Colleges can use Open
Source Software" on index page, they have followed directions given by MHRD is
ridiculous. In the remaining pages of the reply, Board has given photocopies copies of the
changes they have made in 2016-17 text books to be printed soon, and they have clarified
further that Open Source can be used in "Theory as well as in Practicals" which
is very important.
Note that MHRD has used the word "PREFER" while Board is cleverly using
"CAN" !
Anyway, I assume that this is only a symbolic exit of Microsoft from State's Schools
Education.
This covers State Schools and Junior Colleges in Maharashtra. But University Education
too is compelling degree colleges to use proprietary software. Situation is somewhat
better in Engineering courses but in the courses such as Computer Applications (TYBcom),
there are softwares like MS Excel and Visual Basic. Also there are direct questions in the
examination on the commands used in Excel and VB. I am going to send similar letter to
Mumbai University too.
Also the course MS-ACIT has been made mandatory for teachers. This course is exclusively
an advertisement of Microsoft and other other proprietary software. Since after removing
proprietary software from school. This course, which itself is a violation of MHRD
notification, becomes meaningless for teachers. Hence appropriate changes are necessary in
this course curriculum. We have to follow this matter in Education Department.
I request all to help Schools in Maharashtra aware of the purpose and significance of
this change and make open source movement stronger. Otherwise it will remain only on
paper.
http://www.mediafire.com/view/seufdy593ocbaiu/Notice_To_SSC-HSC_Board.jpg
http://www.mediafire.com/view/uccych8u0hnqt6g/Notice_To_SSC-HSC_Board_%28Re…
http://www.mediafire.com/download/nouxfd9a1hxnwd4/MHRD_-_Remove_Microsoft.p…
--
http://mm.ilug-bom.org.in/mailman/listinfo/linuxers
11:45 a.m.
New subject: An Important News Regarding FOSS
On Wed, May 3, 2017 at 12:36 PM, Milind Oka <oak445(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Hi all,
In reply to my letter, SSC/HSC board had assured to implement the open
source policy in School Education. (Letter dated 19-05-2016)
They only put footnotes in Syllabus that "open source software can be used
in the ICT". Of course convincing Schools
and Jr Colleges to adopt FOSS on the basis of this letter and footnotes
would not have been possible. So I called it as "Symbolic Exit of
Microsoft".
First of all congratulations on your achievement; keep carrying the
torch of enlightenment!
Rather than say "Symbolic Exit of Microsoft" (it won't happen) I would
rather say it is "One big step for FOSS kind" (modified quote of
Astronaut Neil Armstrong walking on the moon) in the Maharashtra
Secondary School. The FOSS community has to show an "alternate
technology." To pique the interests of the young minds, we need to
show them the value (monetary benefits). Only then will they accept
it i.e. well paying jobs with Python/PHP etc. skill set with companies
like Google, FB, Amazon, Flipkart etc. Throwing an idea -- let them
create their own web site with a small CMS and see the results.
IMHO, stay away from points like it is *free* -- most people don't
care (from my experience).
My two cents.
Best
-- Arun Khan
2148
days inactive
2486
days old
10 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
-
Arun Khan -
Ashish -
GN -
J T Dsouza -
Milind Oka -
Rushabh Mehta