Johannesburg, 09 Jul 2002
Working in partnership with the global academic community will see Sun Microsystems launching one of the biggest and most ambitious global education projects. The campaign, an effort to bridge the digital divide, aims to enable any student, anywhere to learn and prepare for the global economy.
The initiative will ultimately equip millions of students and teachers with access to the Internet and technology, so they can take advantage of Web-based educational resources and build IT skills, crucial to business worldwide.
Through this campaign Sun will, for example, provide participating nations' public schools with StarOffice 6.0, one of the world's most popular open productivity suites based on open source development.
The cost-effective deployment of StarOffice 6.0 allows cash-strapped academic institutions to deliver productive and creative tools to advance student learning, while keeping critical budget funds focused on the students.
"This latest drive will enable the education sector to adopt the Sun ONE (Open Net Environment) model that allows pupils to use centralised, vendor-independent servers and services - thus eliminating outdated desktop software and costly upgrades," says Stefano Mattiello, managing director of Sun Microsystems SA.
In SA, Sun serves on the Presidential IT Taskforce and is a foremost campaigner of the adoption of open source technology for local education.
Sun is also, as part of local consortium, bidding for the GautengOnline (GOL) initiative - a project that will give thousands of learners access to the Internet and other technologies.
Teresa Peters, executive director of international non-profit organisation Bridges.org, says that, together with Sun, it supports the adoption of open source policies in SA.
"The government - and public - should be aware of the implications of adopting proprietary operating systems in schools. Open software solutions offer a better long-term strategy given the technology realities in developing countries," she says.
"However, it would be a mistake to assume that free software will automatically lead to improvements in educational outcomes. To take full advantage of this donation, the government needs to make certain that teachers and students are properly trained and able to benefit from the introduction of technology in schools."
Commenting on Sun's global IT-enablement of education, Peters points out that even though Sun is giving something to schools that is easy for them to give, it's still excellent news for global and local educators and students. "More companies should follow the example that Sun and others have set."
Bridges.org's mission is to help people in developing countries, such as SA, to use information and communications technology to improve their lives. "We do not provide infrastructure and hardware, but work with access initiatives to focus on getting technology used effectively and efficiently," says Peters.
Sun has already launched this education campaign in Latin America and the People's Republic of China.
In Brazil, Sun will work closely with the Committee for Democracy in Information Technology, as an outgrowth of the World Economic Forum's Global Digital Divide Initiative. Sun will begin a massive effort that will benefit 6.5 million students, with the inauguration of Sun computer labs in schools in several poor communities.
StarOffice 6.0 has also been presented to the Chilean Ministry of Education for replication and distribution to more than 3.5 million students, teachers and administrators.
And in China, Sun has contributed state-of-the-art-networking equipment for the roll out of a distance learning infrastructure. In addition, Sun and China's Ministry of Education have agreed to work closely on the development of a competitive software industry in the country.
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