In India, open source code software will have to come and stay in a big way for the benefit of our billion people."
- Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
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"The most unfortunate thing is that India still seems to believe in proprietary solutions. Further spread of IT which is influencing the daily life of individuals would have a devastating effect on the lives of society due to any small shift in the business practice involving these proprietory solutions. It is precisely for these reasons open source software need to be built which would be cost effective for the entire society.
In India, open source code software will have to come and stay in a big way for the benefit of our billion people." - Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam |
In the true words of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, free/open source software (FLOSS) is the key to a prospective, bright India.
Schools and colleges are the grass root-levels for our future generations. Unfortunately in India, there isn't much collaboration between the industry, and the academia in a majority of the institutions. Industry is going in its own way, and the people in the academia don't know what is happening in the industry. In the US, companies invest a lot in the academia giving the students direct industry exposure. In India, students usually get to do a one-month internship in summer. For a beginner to have learnt something productive, it will take him/her atleast six months.
ISO approvals in universities/colleges and SEI CMM levels in the industry in India are a big joke. College management get trapped into these approvals, which, already have a "pathetic" quality standard and force students into doing lot of homework, assignments. Do they do any practical work? No. At the end of the semester, you ask a student to implement some component of an operating system after taking an operating system course, they won't be able to do it. What better example to show that ISO approvals in India are a big joke.
The only solution to enhance the learning experience and improve the standard and quality of education is to use GNU/Linux at schools and colleges, and make students really understand and learn, and not just get marks and get a degree. As part of Chennai (GNU/)Linux User's Group (ILUGC) and other FSUGS/GLUGS, we have initiated GNU/Linux Vidyashram, where, we take GNU/Linux to schools and colleges.
If you or your institution/school/college/university/company/office/any group of people want to really learn and understand the technologies, feel free to send me an e-mail at shakthimaan@gmail.com, and I can organize GNU/Linux workshops for you. I don't charge anything for the workshops that I do. For institutions out of Chennai, I only ask for travel reimbursement.
Thanks,
SK