I have not authored it. My mistake. I forgot to give the link to the original
article which appeared on the Indian Express.
http://indianexpress.com/article/business/business-others/moocs-platform-not-all-is-open-or-swayam-about-it-2948802/
Prasanth
On 7 August 2016 13:57:57 GMT+05:30, prabir <[email protected]> wrote:
>Can I put this in Newsclick with you as author and your SFLC hat?
>
>On 4 Aug 2016 1:24 pm, "Prasanth Sugathan" <[email protected]>
>wrote:
>
>> *The HRD ministry’s decision to partner with an affiliate of
>Microsoft
>> Corp for developing a web-based education platform, experts say, has
>some
>> loose ends, majorly the choice of a proprietary software over the
>open
>> source ones, despite their proven track record at premier
>institutions *
>>
>> A Rs 38 crore mandate awarded by the Union HRD Ministry in June to an
>> affiliate of Redmond-based Microsoft
>> <http://indianexpress.com/tag/microsoft/> Corp for developing a
>flagship
>> web-based education platform is coming under increasing fire in the
>> academic circles — both for the manner in which the contract was
>handed out
>> and on the choice of proprietary software over free open source
>options
>> already being deployed by premier educational institutions in the
>country.
>>
>> Microsoft was selected as the technical partner for the HRD
>ministry’s
>> SWAYAM (Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds)
>platform
>> based on the recommendations of a “technical committee”, presumably
>after
>> the tendering process for selecting a system integrator for SWAYAM —a
>MOOC
>> or massive open online courses platform — floated thrice through the
>> e-procurement platform since November last year failed to elicit any
>> response. While the Ministry of Human Resource Development has cited
>the
>> decision of a “technical committee” behind its choice of proprietary
>> software over open source software and that selecting Microsoft does
>not
>> run foul of the rulebook, the deal has raised eyebrows over the lack
>of
>> objective criterion on how the decisions were taken in the first
>place.
>>
>> The choice of proprietary software, entailing costs of Rs 38 crore
>and
>> more for tools such as SQL (structured query language), is being
>questioned
>> on the grounds that the selection of proprietary software on payment
>basis
>> was done despite a clear option of going in for open source platforms
>such
>> as Open EdX. For instance, Open edX — an open-source, not-for profit
>> platform floated by MIT and Harvard University that was released as
>open
>> source in March 2013 to act as the WordPress for MOOC platforms — is
>used
>> across at least 126 universities and organisations globally. Even
>more
>> intriguing is the fact that an MoU is already in place between IIT
>Bombay
>> and edX, under which edX released complete platform code in open
>source.
>> The signing of the MoU in June 2013 was actually facilitated by the
>> Ministry of HRD. Open source platforms such as Open edX allow users
>to use
>> plug-ins to expand the core functionality, thereby imparting
>tremendous
>> flexibility when it comes to scaling up the platform or modify it to
>suit
>> the specific requirements of a particular college or university.
>Since
>> January last year, IIT Bombay decided to opt for Open edX and launch
>a
>> customised version called IITBX as an extended online educational
>services
>> for the benefit of Indian learners and training workshops for
>teachers,
>> wherein the premier engineering institute has added significant
>> functionality to the Open edX platform to create and offer MOOCs.
>> Similarly, IIT Madras had a Google
><http://indianexpress.com/tag/google/>-based
>> Course Builder platform ported in their own computer infrastructure
>while
>> IIT Kanpur had a homegrown platform called MOOKIT, based again on
>open
>> source software.
>>
>> Even if the debate over open source and proprietary software were to
>be
>> set aside, there are varying interpretations on why the three tenders
>> floated since November 2015 failed to get any response. According to
>> sources, there was an industry consultation facilitated by PwC, the
>> consultant appointed by the ministry, in October 2015 and a pre-bid
>meeting
>> in December 2015. However, in the pre-bid meeting, most of those
>present
>> decided not to make a bid on the ground that there was no clarity in
>the
>> mandate and operational requirement itself. The reason for the lack
>of
>> clarity, experts say, is reflected succinctly if the RFPs (request
>for
>> proposals) floated for SWAYAM on November 21, 2015, and an earlier
>one
>> floated for the proposed National Career Services portal (on August
>13,
>> 2014) were to be kept side by side and analysed — a discernible
>similarity
>> in the two architectures is difficult to miss even though the two
>projects
>> for which RFPs were issued are quite different. NCS is simply an
>econtent
>> platform while SWAYAM is a far more advanced MOOCs initiative.
>>
>> In response to specific questions sent by The Indian Express
>> <http://indianexpress.com/>, R Subrahmanyam, Additional Secretary
>> -Technical Education, the Ministry of HRD, said that Microsoft’s
>selection
>> was done after the tender for the selection of the System Integrator
>for
>> SWAYAM had been floated through the e-procurement platform three
>times but
>> returned no qualified bidder. “It was therefore decided to ask AICTE
>to
>> take up in-house development of SWAYAM portal by selecting suitable
>> platform. A technical committee assisted by consultants M/S PwC
>evaluated
>> both the open source and proprietary software and decided to use the
>> proprietary software keeping in view the needs of this large
>enterprise
>> model with complex inter-connected processes. After this, all the
>> proprietary software has been evaluated and the Microsoft Platform
>has been
>> selected as best suited based on objective criteria. The development
>is
>> currently going on the Microsoft Platform by a team of developers,
>led by
>> Microsoft.”
>>
>> On the issue of why open source options such as Open edX or Google
>Source
>> Builder were not considered, Subrahmanyam said: “All that appears
>‘free’ is
>> not always free!”. He said “the option of using edX has been
>evaluated
>> carefully. Since the intellectual property of the courses placed on
>edX is
>> lost for the country, it was not found to be a viable option. There
>are
>> also substantial payments to be made to MIT for placing the courses
>on the
>> edX platform. The decision of the government was also to have a
>National
>> Platform for the MOOCs.”
>>
>> He, however, admitted that in the Microsoft deal, further payments
>might
>> be envisaged for proprietary tools that might be required to fully
>> operationalise the package. “There are certain tools that were
>required for
>> development of the IT platform. They have been procured using the
>DGS&D
>> (Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals) rate contract,” he
>said in
>> response to the query.
>>
>> Experts counter the arguments raised by the ministry of the
>ostensible
>> lack of scalability of open source software with respect to the needs
>of
>> “large enterprise model with complex inter-connected processes” by
>> specifically citing the example of enterprises such as the BSE
>switching
>> from proprietary hardware to open source — the first major financial
>> institutions in India to go open source by deploying an open source
>> platform. Corroborating the improvement in the transactional
>efficiency
>> from the switch, a BSE executive told The Indian Express: “For two
>decades,
>> we were constrained by the proprietary technologies and found that
>old
>> infrastructure had limitations in innovation, apart from the elevated
>cost
>> of upgrades.” “To improve this, BSE collaborated with Red Hat to
>build an
>> entirely new trading system on open source technology, powered by Red
>Hat
>> Enterprise Linux Operating System. Post this development and its
>> deployment, BSE has increased the volume from 10 million orders a day
>to
>> 500 million plus orders a day, cut hardware costs by 66 per cent, and
>has
>> also increased its trading speed from 10 milliseconds to 6
>microseconds,”
>> according to company information.
>>
>> Also, among the open source platforms, edX itself is run by over 126
>> institutions across the world, with several countries and private
>entities
>> announced their adoption of the edX open source platform to launch
>new
>> initiatives. There involve EdRuX in Russia, France Universite
>Numerique and
>> MOOC France Tv Education in France and nearly a dozen Chinese
>universities
>> joining to form an online education initiative in China under the
>XuetangX
>> platform. BITs Pilani is among the private sector institutions that
>run
>> edX-based courses.
>>
>> On the specific assertion that AICTE was doing “in-house” development
>of
>> the MOOCs platform, sources in the know said that the AICTE has no
>software
>> development team of its own and the Council’s own governance system
>has
>> been developed and is managed by an outsourced agency (L&T Infotech).
>A
>> query sent to the AICTE on the issue remained unanswered. Details
>about the
>> composition of the technical committee that, assisted by PwC, decided
>to
>> use the proprietary software were unavailable. Specifics of the
>“objective
>> criteria” cited by the Ministry of HRD that was used to select
>Microsoft
>> for the deal could also not be accessed.
>>
>> As regards the loss of IPR argument flagged by the ministry, experts
>point
>> to the fact that all content created using Government of India
>funding is
>> Open Educational Resources under the relevant Creative Commons
>licence and,
>> as a result, the question of IPR simply does not arise. On the
>similarities
>> in the RFPs for SWAYAM and one floated earlier for NCS, Viplav Baxi,
>the
>> chief product architect for an edTech startup Fliplearn Education
>said:
>> “The similarities (in the RFPs) are fairly outrageous. It’s clear
>that the
>> consultants who placed these advertisements do not know what MOOCs is
>and
>> possibly the other project also! MOOCs is necessary but it’s
>important to
>> approach it the right way”.
>>
>> --
>> Prasanth Sugathan
>> Counsel,sflc.in,
>> K-9, Birbal Road, Second Floor,
>> Jangpura Extension,
>> New Delhi-110014
>> Phone# +91-11-43587126
>> Cell: +91 9013585902www.sflc.in
>>
>>
>>
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