#[1]alternate [2]English [3]a+l+e+r+b+y+tm [4]Deutsch [5]ellynika' [6]español
   [7]f+a+r+s+ÛU8C [8]français [9]hrvatski [10]italiano [11]æU97¥æU9C¬èªU9E
   [12]lietuviu [13]Nederlands [14]polski [15]português [16]russkij [17]Shqip
   [18]Türkçe [19]ukrayins'ka [20]ç®U80ä½U93ä¸æU96U87

   [21]Skip to main text
   [22]Free Software Supporter: email address_____ Sign up
   [23]JOIN THE FSF

   [24] [A GNU head]  GNU Operating System
   Supported by the [25]Free Software Foundation
   [26] [Search www.gnu.org]
   [27] [Other languages]
   [28]Site navigation [29]Skip
     * [30]ABOUT GNU
     * [31]PHILOSOPHY
     * [32]LICENSES
     * = [33]EDUCATION =
     * [34]SOFTWARE
     * [35]DISTROS
     * [36]DOCS
     * [37]MALWARE
     * [38]HELP GNU
     * [39]AUDIO & VIDEO
     * [40]GNU ART
     * [41]FUN
     * [42]GNU'S WHO?
     * [43]SOFTWARE DIRECTORY
     * [44]HARDWARE
     * [45]SITEMAP

   [46] [Education Contents]

   [47]GNU Home  / [48]Education /

Frequently Asked Questions About Free Software and Education

   Many Free Software advocates encounter difficulties when talking to the
   administrators of educational institutions about the advantages of using and
   teaching Free Software. Often school administrators have never heard of Free
   Software or have heard only about "open source", so they raise many doubts. Here
   we put together some of the most common questions and the best possible answers
   to eliminate uncertainties.

   As a teacher, I've been trying hard to explain to the school's administrators the
          advantages that open source software can bring to our school, but they
          don't seem to be interested.
          "Open source" refers only to the technical advantages of software. Schools
          may not be interested in that aspect since most probably technical
          requirements are already satisfied by the proprietary software in use. You
          need to talk to them in terms of Free Libre Software, not "open source",
          so that you can explain to them the philosophical and ethical reasons why
          educational institutions should reject proprietary software.

          See the reasons [49]why educational institutions should use and teach
          exclusively Free Software.

   I would love to see all schools migrate to Free Software, but I think it's
          hopeless. Proprietary software companies have too much power, even over
          schools. The situation is discouraging.
          While it is true that proprietary software corporations have managed to
          impose their products on society by using schools as propaganda agents, it
          is also true that many schools around the world have adopted Free Software
          with excellent results. See our [50]Case Studies section for some
          examples.

          When we started the GNU Project back in 1983, the situation was very
          discouraging for us too. We started from zero, and today millions of
          people around the world use Free Libre Software.

   I am the head of a technical institute and I would like to teach our students the
          use and administration of a Free Libre platform, but I have to comply with
          the curriculum established by the Ministry of Education, which requires
          the teaching of proprietary platforms and programs.
          If you are literally forced to teach nonfree software, you should tell
          your students that you consider this software unethical, that you are
          doing this only because you are being forced, and that you will do as
          little of it as possible so that you can move on to freedom-respecting
          software.

          We must not forget that schools have a great influence on society, so
          making our students aware of the advantages of Free Software is a way of
          putting pressure on decision makers. You can start by telling your
          students about Free Software and its ethical values, as they might never
          have heard of it. With your endorsement and support, this may lead to the
          formation of a [51]Free Software Group in your school. Then the group can
          make its voice heard by writing letters to the Ministry, holding events to
          promote Free Software, and other similar activities.

          When computer users will start demanding their rights, Governments will
          have to issue their laws accordingly. That is why political and social
          awareness is a fundamental aspect which cannot be left aside when talking
          about Free Software.
     ____________________________________________________________________________

   [52]BACK TO TOP ^

Education

   [53]Main page
   [54]Case studies
   [55]Resources
   [56]Big Tech Threats
   [57]Resistance

          + [58]Successful resistance
          + [59]Online teaching

   = [60]FAQ =
   [61]Our team
   In depth

          + [62]Why educational institutions should use and teach free software
          + [63]Why schools should exclusively use free software
          + [64]The education system in India
          + [65]DRM in school eBooks: When life imitates dystopian stories

   [66]Miscellaneous materials
     ____________________________________________________________________________

   [67]^
   [68]BACK TO TOP
   [69]Set language

   Available for this page:

   [en] [70]English   [ar] [71]a+l+e+r+b+y+tm   [de] [72]Deutsch
   [el] [73]ellynika'   [es] [74]español   [fa] [75]f+a+r+s+   [fr] [76]français
   [hr] [77]hrvatski   [it] [78]italiano   [ja] [79]¥¬   [lt] [80]lietuviu
   [nl] [81]Nederlands   [pl] [82]polski   [pt-br] [83]português   [ru] [84]russkij
     [sq] [85]Shqip   [tr] [86]Türkçe   [uk] [87]ukrayins'ka   [zh-cn] [88]­
     ____________________________________________________________________________

   [89]BACK TO TOP ^

     [90] [FSF logo]  "The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a nonprofit with a
     worldwide mission to promote computer user freedom. We defend the rights of
     all software users".

   [91]JOIN [92]DONATE [93]SHOP

   Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to [94]. There are also
   [95]other ways to contact the FSF. Broken links and other corrections or
   suggestions can be sent to [96].

   Please see the [97]Translations README for information on coordinating and
   contributing translations of this article.

   Copyright © 2011, 2016, 2020, 2021 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

   This page is licensed under a [98]Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0
   International License.

   [99]Copyright Infringement Notification

   Updated: $Date: 2021/06/01 09:21:48 $

References

   1. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.html
   2. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.en.html
   3. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.ar.html
   4. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.de.html
   5. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.el.html
   6. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.es.html
   7. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.fa.html
   8. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.fr.html
   9. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.hr.html
  10. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.it.html
  11. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.ja.html
  12. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.lt.html
  13. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.nl.html
  14. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.pl.html
  15. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.pt-br.html
  16. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.ru.html
  17. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.sq.html
  18. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.tr.html
  19. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.uk.html
  20. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.zh-cn.html
  21. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.html#content
  22. http://www.fsf.org/fss
  23. https://www.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom?referrer=4052
  24. http://www.gnu.org/
  25. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.html#mission-statement
  26. http://www.gnu.org/cgi-bin/estseek.cgi
  27. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.html#language-container
  28. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.html#navigation
  29. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.html#content
  30. http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu.html
  31. http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/philosophy.html
  32. http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html
  33. http://www.gnu.org/education/education.html
  34. http://www.gnu.org/software/software.html
  35. http://www.gnu.org/distros/distros.html
  36. http://www.gnu.org/doc/doc.html
  37. http://www.gnu.org/proprietary/proprietary.html
  38. http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html
  39. http://www.gnu.org/audio-video/audio-video.html
  40. http://www.gnu.org/graphics/graphics.html
  41. http://www.gnu.org/fun/humor.html
  42. http://www.gnu.org/people/people.html
  43. http://directory.fsf.org/
  44. https://h-node.org/
  45. http://www.gnu.org/server/sitemap.html
  46. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.html#navlinks
  47. http://www.gnu.org/
  48. http://www.gnu.org/education/education.html
  49. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-why.html
  50. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-cases.html
  51. http://libreplanet.org/wiki/Group_list
  52. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.html#content
  53. http://www.gnu.org/education/education.html#content
  54. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-cases.html#content
  55. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-resources.html#content
  56. http://www.gnu.org/education/bigtech-threats-to-education-and-society.html#content
  57. http://www.gnu.org/education/resisting-proprietary-software.html#content
  58. http://www.gnu.org/education/successful-resistance-against-nonfree-software.html#content
  59. http://www.gnu.org/education/dangers-of-proprietary-systems-in-online-teaching.html#content
  60. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.html#content
  61. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-team.html#content
  62. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-why.html#content
  63. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-schools.html#content
  64. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-system-india.html#content
  65. http://www.gnu.org/education/drm-in-school-ebooks-when-life-imitates-dystopian-stories.html#content
  66. http://www.gnu.org/education/misc/edu-misc.html#content
  67. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.html#top
  68. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.html#top
  69. http://www.gnu.org/server/select-language.html?callback=/education/edu-faq.html
  70. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.en.html
  71. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.ar.html
  72. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.de.html
  73. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.el.html
  74. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.es.html
  75. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.fa.html
  76. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.fr.html
  77. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.hr.html
  78. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.it.html
  79. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.ja.html
  80. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.lt.html
  81. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.nl.html
  82. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.pl.html
  83. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.pt-br.html
  84. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.ru.html
  85. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.sq.html
  86. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.tr.html
  87. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.uk.html
  88. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.zh-cn.html
  89. http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.html#header
  90. http://www.fsf.org/
  91. http://www.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom?referrer=4052
  92. http://donate.fsf.org/
  93. http://shop.fsf.org/
  94. mailto:gnu@gnu.org
  95. http://www.gnu.org/contact/
  96. mailto:webmasters@gnu.org
  97. http://www.gnu.org/server/standards/README.translations.html
  98. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
  99. http://www.fsf.org/about/dmca-notice