We,the FSMK(Free Software Movement Karnataka) volunteers cum trainers,
along with members from few other organizations trained Government
School teachers to use and get comfortable with Free Software,in a
step towards scaling a steep task of setting the binary knowledge
free. These training sessions happened on the 16th, 17th and 18th of
July,2009.

I was expecting reluctance,hesitation,mild levels of ego and confusion
from the participants...But all that emerged out of these teachers was
an extremely high level of enthusiasm, an equaling curiosity and
tireless efforts for the first two days...Witnessing this in person
and being a part all three days has been all together a new kind of an
experience....

We were able to break the dogma of The Cyberphobia (Fear of working
with computers) from these people the very first day....The joy they
subsequently found working on the basics which we taught them was just
heart warming.... The ultimate goal of this workshop has been making
the teachers self sufficient in handling computers for basic purposes,
so that the kids are benefited.

The second day was more about trying to make them feel more
independent. The interest and the curiosity levels in the teachers
remained still the same, while the extent of apprehension and
inhibitions from their side were mellowing down.

The third day was to introduce them to an entirely new world, as seen
by them, through Internet and the various possibilities using it like
mailing, searching, browsing useful sites, copying content from net,
file downloads etc... The Internet really hooked them on,making most
of them pledge that they would want to use it more even after the
sessions.

But,the kind of awe they were in, while undergoing these sessions puts
a big question about the IT revolution India is supposedly going
through...In a city where all the major IT players of the world have
at least one establishment is ridiculously unbalanced. Its own
teachers are literally scared to work with computers...

Blaming the Government is something which is eternal...And we've got
used to it...

The question is what each of us can do? I genuinely feel that we as a
literate community have a lot to do with a sense of sincere concern
towards the society we are a part of....

If you feel that you can do your part in bridging the divide, join us
at fsmk.org.

-
Raghavendra S
Volunteer
FSMK ( fsmk.org)