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<DIV>Hi Marc & Ankur,</DIV>
<DIV>Thanks for your response; sorry, I got tied up with some pressing issues of
our foundation.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>We are thinking about <U>dual boot</U> XOs for RK College, because:</DIV>
<DIV>1. Besides using them in grades (6-12), we also want to use them for
<U>vocation training</U> of those who pass high school and 12th grades. </DIV>
<DIV>2. We are also thinking about initiating <U>Gram IT activity</U> with help
of Byrraju Foundation. For convenience, I'm attaching a document giving some
articles about GramIT.. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>We will like to know:</DIV>
<DIV>1. Can XOs be used for vocational training and production support of
GramIT? If this is true, we can start with 20-30 XOs at RK Girls College. We are
thinking about ordering a few to understand their functionality and
appropriateness for the above purposes. Any advice?</DIV>
<DIV>2. Since our school is Hindi medium in UP, we are curious if anyone
has</DIV>
<DIV> a) Obtained or planning to obtain the latest
syllabus or worked on UP curriculum. If not, can OLPC India help in
this?</DIV>
<DIV> b) Details of Board requirements for Computer as a
subject for High School & Inter classes</DIV>
<DIV> c) Qualification & experience requirements for
Computer teachers for Computer as a subject etc.</DIV>
<DIV> d) Has OLPC thought about any coordinated plan for
content development for North India in these areas?</DIV>
<DIV>Will greatly appreciate your help & suggestions,</DIV>
<DIV>-- Sheel</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In a message dated 9/18/2008 6:08:56 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
mvalentin@abeditions.com writes:</DIV>
<DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 0px; MARGIN-LEFT: 0px"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial>Hi
Sheel,<BR>For some reason, I didn't get your mail in the indian list. I just
saw<BR>it by chance browsing the archives...<BR>We are using XO with the sugar
interface and we are certainly not<BR>going to switch to Windows+Office, that
is the biggest mistake to do.<BR>We want to educate the children not to create
small "clerks". MSOffice<BR>should not be used in primary education, it is a
complete non-sense.<BR>From class 6 to 12 maybe they can, however we have not
yet reached<BR>that level, the bigger children we have are in class 5.<BR>We
never tried to use the XO in Hindi because our school is an<BR>English
Medium school.<BR>To get teachers from south to come to north you have to
offer double<BR>that salary + accommodation. But still, it is not easy to find
them.<BR>However, the parents like to have teachers from south and it is
good<BR>to bring the level up as teachers in north are usually not
very<BR>committed to their
work.<BR>-marc-<BR>http://www.oeuvredespains.org<BR><BR>-----------------------------------------<BR>Dear
Marc,<BR>We are also planning to get XO laptops (with Windows & Office) in
our<BR>school, which is in Fatehpur district, about 80 km from Kanpur.
We<BR>have grades 6-12<BR>(Hindi medium) and can provide living quarters
to the teachers.The principal<BR>and one computer teacher live on
campus, however, their salaries are low<BR>(Rs. 3000-3500), as the
tuition we charge ranges between Rs. 50-100/mo only.<BR><BR>What salary
does your school pay to computer teachers? Can we get any<BR>teachers from
south to teach at our school. We are also planning to give a<BR>"Certificate
in Computers" to those who pass high school (grade 10)<BR>and
Intermediate<BR>(grade 12) and additional vocational computer courses,
to community youth.<BR>However, getting qualified teachers is a major
hurdle.<BR><BR>Will greatly appreciate any help & advise.<BR>Thanks
........... Sheel Thakur<BR>_sst38 at columbia.edu_ (mailto:sst38 at
columbia.edu)<BR><BR><BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">Looking for simple solutions to your real-life financial challenges? <A title="http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1209382257x1200540686/aol?redir=http://www.walletpop.com/?NCID=emlcntuswall00000001" href="http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1209382257x1200540686/aol?redir=http://www.walletpop.com/?NCID=emlcntuswall00000001" target="_blank">Check out WalletPop for the latest news and information, tips and calculators</A>.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>