About Linux In Schools

Linux In Schools is an initiative of SubXplore CC, a limited liability company registered in South Africa with registration number CC 2007/078601/23 and VAT registration 4510236476. With the legal stuff out of the way, why are you reading this?

The company is driven by Hannes Calitz and his wife, Martie. After a casual discussion with a teacher during an academic exhibition that Hannes attended, he discovered that due to the cost of software and the lack of proper training of teachers in systems administration, they can not operate the existing computer lab. The computers are a bit old, and the teacher suspected that they would have to upgrade to be able to utilise the computers at all. When Linux was mentioned, he was interested, but had no clue what Linux is.

So, back in the office, a new opportunity present itself to SubXplore to be able to really help this school and others in similar situations. In the SubXplore office we had a lot of untapped experience in training and teaching from primary to tertiary level. The solution was obvious, teach as many schools as possible. The problem is however that in order to reach schools in a certain region, you had to go there, transfer a huge amount of information, and hope that the teachers will be ok. Definitely not a good idea!

The idea took shape in the form of a really complete correspondence course that would be suitable for all the teachers involved in the computer training of the learners. To expect the teachers to attend short courses is unrealistic due to their workloads. Our comprehensive Linux course was the result. Over twelve months the teachers will commit themselves to a new operating system, that is done step-by-step. They can not get lost and right from the first part of the course the computers in the school will be ready for the learners!

So that is the reason why this webpage exist, that is the reason we enlisted tens of people in the development of the course material, that is the reason why we want to promote Linux. It is unfair that a free operating system is not used due to a limit of knowledge.

About our management

Hannes is trained as a physicist, worked as an astronomer and acts as system administrator on contract at Boyden Observatory. Martie draws up and compiles the Sasol-Amesa mathematics papers that is annually written by thousands of Free State pupils. She works as a mathematics lecturer at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein. She is also a Nautilus teacher.