[PLUG] PIL for Open Source in Education - Update

[Milind Oka]

Hi,

In last month's proceedings, Hon High Court passed an important order to 
make appropriate changes in
School/College curriculum for academic year 2017-18 ( in view of 
Notification dated 17 June 2014 which advises
  states to adopt open source on priority)

Government has formed an experts committee for this implementation. The 
report is expected
before 8 March 17. So next date is kept on 31 March 2017.

Another good news is that Prof Kannan of 'Spoken Tutorials' seems to be 
one of the members in the committee. Prof Kannan,
  being a strong supporter of open source, has been putting great 
efforts to promote open source. He himself says that obsolete
curriculum is the biggest problem in ICT education. Also he has signed 
our on line petition for Mandating Open Source. His work
will be meaningful if open source is effectively implemented through 
curriculum.
Now we can definitely expect a report from the committee suggesting 
mandatory adoption of Open Source in Education in
strong and clear words. Best wishes to Prof Kannan and his team.

Earlier,  Mr Krishnakant Mane and DFF filed a similar PIL in order to 
have a greater impact of the original petition. The two petitions will
now be joined (Probably on 31 March). Original petition is representing 
students and teachers while Krishnakant is representing Visually
impaired students and students in rural areas in particular. Lots of 
thanks to Krishnakant.

Hon High Court Order on 8 Dec : http://docdro.id/pM73elw

MHRD Notification which High Court Order refers : http://docdro.id/aPc7MSF

-- Regards
Milind