A ray of hope in rural India
Last week, I was invited by Mar Athanasios College For
Advanced Studies (MACFAST), in Tiruvalla, Kerala. This is an
institution which coaches young minds, in the fields of
computer science (MCA), management (MBA) and several
branches of bio-technology. My visit was short, but it gave
me an idea of how a team of dedicated and active teachers
can change the lives of so many people. It also gave me a
glimpse of the games played by unscrupulous politicians,
and how they make it difficult for our country to make any
progress. Yet, MACFAST has achieved some remarkable results.
There was one signal which I did not fail to notice. My talk
to them was on the opportunities the world of FOSS gives us
all. It was, as usual peppered with the inevitable dose of
Microsoft bashing. I think, that the students got the
message. In no time, they switched over from MS based
presentations, to a Fedora based one. They proved that they
could do it. Many of them met me after my talk, and assured
me that they would avoid MS forever. It was so gratifying to
see the change. With students like this, and an institution
like MACFAST, there is hope for India.
Thank you MACFAST. GOD bless you for the fine job you are
doing.
If you happen to visit Kerala, visit MACFAST at Tiruvalla.
Or if you can't do that, at least visit their web site at :
http://www.macfast.org/
partha
