In the field of education, open source has potential to alter the paradigm of collaboration, by allowing universities researching computer software to share information and discoveries. Even more base, however, open source can supply schools with free (as in beer) and relatively cheap software to help students learn.

There is an ongoing debate in the United Kingdom about the incorporation of open source software into schools. The Open School Alliance argues that an open source approach to education would reduce costs and directly benefit students by providing new skills.

While recommendations are made by a government body called BECTA to acquire open source software in schools, facts on the ground suggest that these recommendations are being completely ignored (BECTA’s response to those claims).

Instead, pricey proprietary software is being acquired, that restricts the scale of knowledge offered to students and increases the cost to operate a single PC by 44% for primary schools and 24% for secondary schools, according to this article from Computer Business Report.

Members of Parliament have entered the discussion and are working to reverse the trend. They wish to introduce more schools to open source software rather than retain a state of ‘neutrality’ wherein software vendors use incentives to promote closed systems. To date, eighty-six members of parliament, in response to an early day motion (EDM) tabled by John Pugh, have questioned the exclusion of open source software from UK.

John Pugh MP has recently said: “In my experience a school is a key part of the community and as such has a role to play in the economy of that community — the emphasis on some things seems to be local supply but not for information technology.”

Roy Schestowitz is a Ph.D. Candidate in Medical Biophysics at Manchester University. He advocates the use of open source technology in the public and private sector and uses his background in computing to make personal contributions to the Free Software movement.