[fsug-calicut] IT at Schools, Kerala

Hello,
     It was happy to know that IT is being included in the school
syllabus but it seems like it is turning out into a money making
venture for few by exploiting the poor students in the name of IT.
What I am writing is based on the follwoing information I received

1.Government is planning to authorize some organizations to implement
the IT infrastructure at schools
2. Government is collecting some fee from them
3. These agencies will collect Rs.25 per month from each student. They
may subcontract it by collecting money.
4. Five computers and a teacher will be arranged in each school in
return

If this is true, I think it is another ABKARI  SYSTEM in the making.
Auction the rights to those who pay maximum and give them a license to
exploit.
There is enough scope for curruption.
Schools will never have an infrastructure of their own.
Think of it and try to prevent it happening. Your help is highly
wanted.

HOW MUCH IT WILL COST ??

Schools need to teach the fundamentals, wordprocessing and programming
languages like LOGO, BASIC, C  etc.
GNU/Linux has all the tools required for it and are available free of
cost.
It also has the Terminal Server Software that allows you to run diskless
PC connected to one Server as graphics terminals.

You need only a P3 to run a server and will cost around Rs.35,000/- The
clients will cost around Rs. 13,000 each
(example configuration : Cyrix CPU + Intel810 motheroard + 64MB RAM  +
color monitor)
The networking of 10 machines using fast ethernet costs  around Rs.
15,000/-
The total cost of having 10 + 1 systems comes out to be  180,000/-

10 machines can handle 20 students at a time.  If you run six  batches a
day, 120 can be handled per day.
If the school has  1000 students, one student will get a practical
class once in every 8 days nearly and it is
reasonable.

If  you collect the Rs.25 per month for  10 months in advance from 800
students, that is Rs. 2 lakhs, more than
enough to set up 10 machines.
Remaining 200 will contribute Rs 5000/- per month and that is sufficient
to hire 2 PGDCA holders to handle the classes.

In a single year, the school will own the infrastructure.
If the number of students are less PTAs should be able to contribute
some money.

Over the coming years  the number of terminals can be increased by using
the subscription money.
This will gradually result in a better computer/student ratio.
In the ABAKARI STYLE system, it will be always 5 PCs for  all the
students.


****************HOW TO IMPLEMENT IT. WHO WILL SETUP THE
SYSTEM*********************
HARDWARE:
There is nothing new in the hardware. It is standard PC hardware except
that the Terminals do not have harddisk, CD or floppy drives.
Every district in kerala has vendors capable of doing it along with
networking.

SOFTWARE:
    The software setup need to be done only for one machine. Installing
a GNU/Linux distribution like RedHat ot Debian  talkes less than
one hour. Installing the Terminal Server and a host of other educational
software takes another hour.  ( These are not
imaginary figures. I have done it at several places, including one
schools in Delhi. Schools in Goa has done it with
the help of a group of volunteers) The only extra job is preparing boot
ROMS for the ethernet cards inside the Terminals.
Ther are people there who can do it.

CALL FOR ACTION
I request all  of you to approach schools in your locality and  explain
them about these facts.  Help them to setup their own infrastructure.
Give no room for exploitation.
If anybody interested in taking up supporting the schools for such
setup, I can arrange him/her FREE  PRACTICAL TRAINING in installing
GNU/Linux,
Terminal Server and other  software required by schools.

ajith



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