Linuxers July 2016

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10 participants
8 discussions

Exit Of Microsoft from School Education ?

by Milind Oka

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

6 years, 5 months

Petition Update : Date extended

by Milind Oka

Hi, The supporter count has crossed 600 and a good news is that the last date for giving inputs is extended up to 16th August by MHRD. Hope we will reach a reasonable count. Let us tighten our belts for a stronger movement. Thanks all our members and special thanks to those who initiated it. Regards, Milind

7 years, 2 months

Petition Published on Change.org

by Milind Oka

Hi all, I have just published. The site link http://kerala.skoool.in seems not working. We have to rectify or omit the link Both left-right alignment is not available so the paragraphs are only left aligned. Made few parts bold and also included bullets wherever appropriate. The petition has time bound so it is mentioned in the beginning. Please go through and review for typo and other changes. https://www.change.org/p/petition-for-mandating-use-of-free-and-open-source… ---Milind

7 years, 2 months

Fwd: [PLUG] DebConf16 video archive available

by Arun Khan

Forward from PLUG list. Would like to draw your attention to a talk by Keerthanan Krishnan "A_Billion_People_And_Even_More_Phones.webm" The presentation provides current information about FOSS in Kerala; they could be cited in the petition for inclusion of FOSS in the education system. -- Arun Khan ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Amey Abhyankar <sco1984(a)gmail.com> Date: Mon, Jul 18, 2016 at 3:05 AM Subject: [PLUG] DebConf16 video archive available To: plug-mail(a)plug.org.in Hello, Video recording archive from Debian conference 2016 is now available at = http://meetings-archive.debian.net/pub/debian-meetings/2016/debconf16/ Feel free to watch,download & share the sessions. This was the 1st DebConf in African continent.

7 years, 2 months

Fwd: [Mini DebConf India] [Announce] Mini Debian Conference Pune 2016

by Rigved Rakshit

Hi, Any help is appreciated! :) ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: miniDebConfPune <minidebconfpune(a)openmailbox.org> Date: Thu 23 Jun, 2016, 01:00 Subject: [Mini DebConf India] [Announce] Mini Debian Conference Pune 2016 To: <in.mini(a)lists.debconf.org> Hello everyone, We are pleased to announce *mini Debian Conference Pune on 30 and 31st July, 2016. * We are proud to be hosting it at *College of Engineering, Pune (CO**EP)**. * COEP has a history of good FOSS contributors and with the upcoming conference, we hope to add to its legacy. It has also hosted a mini Debian Conference way back in 2010 and this year mini Debian Conference returns where it started, in Pune. This is our second mini Debian Conference of the year. The first one happened in Mumbai in January 2016 [5]. *Dates:* 30th & 31st July, 2016 *Venue*:College of Engineering Pune, Wellesely Rd, Shivajinagar, Pune-411 005. Maharashtra, INDIA. Be a part of this mini Debian Conference Pune as a speaker by submitting a Talk/Workshop. We have started accepting proposals now. *Call for proposals (CFPs) is on and will end by 23 July, 2016, 23:59:59 IST.* For submission guidelines and info on how to send your proposals please refer to the website [3] *We are looking for sponsors* to help us make this year's event a roaring success! We have a great sponsorship proposal for Interested organizations looking to sponsor the event. Interested parties should contact us on [4] We are also looking for volunteers who can look after tasks such as designing posters, logos etc. If you want to volunteer for any of the above mentioned tasks or even tasks apart from them, feel free to mail us on [4]. More details will soon be updated here on mailing list [2] as well as on the website [3] and social media portals. . Help us *spread the news* about mini Debian conference Pune by sharing this mail on various other mailing lists and social media portals. Also share the news with your friends,family and colleagues. We hope you all will *join us in celebrating a successful community* that has grown in leaps and bounds since the operating system's initial announcement. *Looking forward to see you all* at mini Debian Conference Pune. On behalf of the Debian India community, *Team miniDebConf Pune* --------------------------------------------------- [1] https://wiki.debian.org/MiniDebConfPune2016 [2] http://lists.debconf.org/mailman/listinfo/in.mini/ [3] http://in2016.mini.debconf.org/ [4] minidebconfpune(a)openmailbox.org [5] https://wiki.debian.org/MiniDebConfMumbai2016 _______________________________________________ in.mini mailing list in.mini(a)lists.debconf.org http://lists.debconf.org/mailman/listinfo/in.mini -- Best Regards, Rigved

7 years, 2 months

Petition Update

by Milind Oka

Hi, 47 Supporters so far. Thanks Nagarjuna for your comments and support. I met Krisnakant today. He appreciated the petition drafted by Rushabh, JT and others. He has assured his active participation in this activity along with his gnukhata team - Ishan, Navin, Abhijit, Sachin and Vinita. We have decided to take small informal sessions in schools and colleges for students/teachers to boost the activity. At the same time we will try to get supporting letters from some well known schools and colleges stating that these institutions themselves do not want proprietary softwares and want to use FOSS. Letters will be sent to MHRD along with petition & signatures. (I know few such institutions, krisnakant also knows a few. He is going prepare a draft in couple of days. So we can get it printed quickly on letter head after convincing them). We know it is difficult to do all this in such a short amount of time but let us try. (Orators are welcome !) Regards, Milind PS : My Project on college/school management in FOSS is kept aside for a couple of months.

7 years, 2 months

Stitch In Time

by Milind Oka

National Education Policy 2016 : " 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(a)gov.in by 31st July 2016, in order that Free and Open Source Software would play the central role in ICT Education. Even a one-line email supporting FOSS in ICT Education will count. Kindly share it on other Linux groups and other places. Thanks and Regards Milind

7 years, 2 months

My suggestions for Petition on Change.org

by Milind Oka

Hi, Rishabh, JT and Arun have already given important points, In addition to that please consider the main line roughly as follows. 1] Use of FOSS or BOSS must be made mandatory for ICT Education or in any activity in education. (They are making sanskrit mandatory as per input draft) Only recommendation or preference has not worked so far. Educational Institutions can easily find loopholes. 2] A separate and independent body to ensure that it is implemented properly. 3] Proper and effective platform for complaints regarding Violation of Open Source Policy. Also please let us know who is working on first draft of petition to avoid duplication of work. To be frank, I am not very good at drafting otherwise would have prepared it. Please forgive. I think we can upload the petition latest by 15 July so that sufficient number of signatures can be obtained till 30th July.. Regards, Milind

7 years, 2 months

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Linuxers July 2016