From FOSS,govt moves on to Microsoft

The government had in December last year told Newsline that it was going for a massive IT upgradation in schools with 1.5 lakh computers,and would spend Rs 500 crore on educational and school management software. To cut cost,the government was planning to have FOSS in place.

The information in the tenders had also mentioned the state’s wish to go for FOSS on the lines of Kerala and even state IT secretary Raj Kumar had confirmed it. As per the MoU signed in the recently-concluded Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors’ Summit,the software giant would establish IT academies,District Institute of Education and Training (DIET),across 12 districts and one at either Ahmedabad or Gandhinagar. Apart from this,Microsoft has promised to train 20,000-odd teachers. The students of DIET,after passing out,will teach students in primary schools.

Saurabh Verma,Regional Manager (Public Sector),Microsoft India said: “Targetted towards capacity building for teachers,the training will be free of cost. We will be providing a platform for the teachers and students to collaborate. Under it,we will also provide students with higher technical education to authenticate and download certain software free of cost under the DreamSpark project.”

According to sources,the cost of Windows operating system with MS Office is around Rs 7,000 per computer for educational institutes and Rs 18,000 for commercial purposes. Under pressure of losing revenue,Microsoft has come down to one-tenth of the cost to provide the operating system and software to the schools in Gujarat. But the price is still the bone of contention for the government.

However,the Education Department and Department of Science and Technology have not yet come to a consensus on the issue. “It is up to the Education Department to decide,” said Raj Kumar in response to a query.