Hi All,
I think that the FOSSCOMM group should develop a response/ position on
this draft policy. let us not underestimate the impact of a Govt Of
India 'ICTs in schools' policy on FOSS scene in India. And also not
underestimate how pro-active Microsoft must be on this right now (also,
Bill Gates is in town and hobnobbing with the minister of education).
Trust Microsoft to provide some very well rounded text to replace the
one on open source software mentioned below - speaking about being open
to alternatives and competing models etc - which would be difficult to
resist if it comes with the kind of political backing that MS can muster.
Does anyone want to take up the task of framing a response from this group?
parminder
Parminder wrote:
Some important points from FOSS point of view are as follow:
The draft policy says 'Free ware, free and open source software
applications will be preferred.' . Very early in policy objectives is
speaks of creating 'an environment of collaboration, cooperation and
sharing'.
It speaks of open and universal access to content at many places. In
fact it is one of the most recurrent theme. It speaks of 'creative
commons' licenses. Not sure, but dont think any GoI policy yet
officially refers to these licenses, though I may be wrong.
However, in the end, as Guru's note points out it, mentioning a BOOT
model as the preferred one for implementation can be very problematic,
and can undo most of the progressive features of the policy.
On the other hand, unlike the earlier draft last year, which took
Public Private Partnership as the central mantra, which was clearly
there to enable large software and content companies capture the
public education market, the part on PPP in the present draft is
mostly around non-profit and voluntary activities. Indeed, FOSSCOMM's
response to the policy draft can begin on this positive note of
offering help through volunteers, whenever and wherever possible, to
kick start teacher-training processes, since such training is stressed
in the policy.
We can of course add a lot on how FOSS adoption can help
constructivist form of learning apart from saving costs etc.
Open standards are also mentioned in a few places.
We can specifically seek that the policy makes it mandatory to first
consider FOSS for any area, and any other choice made should be
sufficiently justified, and taken only as an interim measure till.....
Something to this effect.
parminder
Guru ???? wrote:
Dear friends,
MHRD has released a new draft of the National Policy for ICTs in
School Education (NPISE) recently (see
http://education.nic.in/secedu/ict.pdf).
This document is far better than the earlier one released in Jan 08
(see
http://itforchange.net/media/NPISE/policy_wkbook_with_comments.pdf
for the older policy draft). It clearly emphasises teacher
professional development, local content creation, universal access,
teacher pre-service and in-service training, ICT literacy as a
precursor to ICT enabled learning etc.
While the earlier policy draft did not have even a single mention of
FOSS, the current draft states in para 5.3.2 "Free ware, free and
open source software applications will be preferred".
I have written 'some overall comments' on the policy in a 1 pager
(see "Some overall comments on the NPISE 24.07.09 FOSSCOMM"
attached). We request comments and subsequent endorsement from
FOSSCOMM on this note. The last date for receiving comments is 29
July, hence I request your comments and suggestions well before then,
so that we can share the same with MHRD. We can also write to MHRD at
the email id given in the bottom of the document.
Look forward to your comments/response at your earliest. Would
request Narendra if he can put this up on the FOSSCOMM wiki as well
regards,
Guru
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