Z:gnu-www-ja-nit-india--c945d0-But there are two even deeper/en

But there are two even deeper reasons, why schools in India should insist on free software. One reason is for the sake of education. As people reach their teenage years, some of them are going to be fascinated by computers. They are going want to learn everything about what is going on inside that computer. They are going to want to learn how does this program work. If they are using nonfree software, the teacher has to tell them, &ldquo;Sorry, you can't learn that, I can't learn that. It's a secret. Nobody is allowed to learn that.&rdquo; Non-free software prohibits education. But with free software, the teacher can say, &ldquo;Go ahead. Here's the source code for this program. Read it. You can learn. And then, now that you have read the source code, try making a change, try making a small change in this program. And then try making another. Try changing that program. Try changing that program.&rdquo; And this way the students who are fascinated by computers will learn to write good software.