Microsoft waives software license fees for schools
Schools in Kenya will have more access to computer technology, with a
free license deal from the world's leading software producer.
Microsoft Corporation forged the deal through the Ministry of
Education to allow local schools and higher education institutions to
use the company's software free of charge.
Under the arrangement,
Microsoft will work with organisations currently in charge of supplying
computers to the institutions to first install the programmes on the
machines .
Learning institutions in the developing world have often
been held back from using legitimate copies of common software such as
Microsoft's Windows operating system and Office application suite
because of license fees that are locally unaffordable.
With the free licenses, schools can use the computer technology to build capacity among teachers and students.
Mr Mark East, the general manager for Microsoft's International
Education Solutions Group, said the main drive for offering the fees
waiver, was the lack of computer uptake in the region's education
system.
Mr East said the company learnt a lesson from Ghana,
where its approach to increasing computer usage in schools ran into
trouble.
"In Ghana our approach first was to build capacity for
teachers but we came to learn that even after training the teachers
they still didn't have this basic tool—the computer," he said.
More >> http://bdafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1232&Itemid=4298