CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <head><script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/bundle-playback.js?v=HxkREWBo" charset="utf-8"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/wombat.js?v=txqj7nKC" charset="utf-8"></script> <script>window.RufflePlayer=window.RufflePlayer||{};window.RufflePlayer.config={"autoplay":"on","unmuteOverlay":"hidden"};</script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/ruffle/ruffle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> __wm.init("https://web.archive.org/web"); __wm.wombat("http://www.gnu.org/education/education.html","20160221231927","https://web.archive.org/","web","/_static/", "1456096767"); </script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/banner-styles.css?v=S1zqJCYt" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/iconochive.css?v=3PDvdIFv" />  <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/> <link rel="author" href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="/web/20160221231927im_/http://www.gnu.org/graphics/gnu-head-mini.png"/> <meta name="ICBM" content="42.256233,-71.006581"/>  <title>Free Software and Education - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title>  <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.html" hreflang="x-default"/> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" lang="en" hreflang="en" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.en.html" title="English"/> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" lang="ar" hreflang="ar" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.ar.html" title="العربية"/> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" lang="ca" hreflang="ca" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.ca.html" title="català"/> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" lang="de" hreflang="de" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.de.html" title="Deutsch"/> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" lang="el" hreflang="el" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.el.html" title="ελληνικά"/> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" lang="es" hreflang="es" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.es.html" title="español"/> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" lang="fr" hreflang="fr" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.fr.html" title="français"/> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" lang="hr" hreflang="hr" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.hr.html" title="hrvatski"/> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" lang="it" hreflang="it" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.it.html" title="italiano"/> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" lang="ja" hreflang="ja" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.ja.html" title="日本語"/> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" lang="ko" hreflang="ko" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.ko.html" title="한국어"/> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" lang="lt" hreflang="lt" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.lt.html" title="lietuvių"/> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" lang="pl" hreflang="pl" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.pl.html" title="polski"/> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" lang="pt-br" hreflang="pt-br" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.pt-br.html" title="português do Brasil"/> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" lang="ru" hreflang="ru" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.ru.html" title="русский"/> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" lang="sq" hreflang="sq" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.sq.html" title="Shqip"/> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" lang="uk" hreflang="uk" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.uk.html" title="українська"/>  <style type="text/css" media="screen">  </style>   <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"/> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/web/20160221231927cs_/http://www.gnu.org/combo.css" media="screen"/> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/web/20160221231927cs_/http://www.gnu.org/mini.css" media="handheld"/> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/web/20160221231927cs_/http://www.gnu.org/layout.min.css" media="screen"/> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/web/20160221231927cs_/http://www.gnu.org/print.min.css" media="print"/> <style type="text/css" media="print,screen"> .crm-amount-fill { background: #f2cd5f; color: black; border-radius: 1em; padding-right: .3em; padding-left: .3em; width: 100%; } .crm-amount-high { float: right; } div.donate_btn { float: right; } </style> <style type="text/css" media="print,screen">  </style>  </head> <body> <div class="inner">  <div id="toplinks"> <a href="#content">Skip to main text</a> <span class="gnun-split"></span> <a href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/server/select-language.html?callback=/education/education.html" rel="nofollow"> Set language <span class="gnun-split"></span> </a> </div>  <div id="searcher"> <form method="get" action="//web.archive.org/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/cgi-bin/estseek.cgi"> <div> <input name="phrase" id="phrase" type="text" size="18" accesskey="s" value="Why GNU/Linux?" onfocus="this.value=''"/> <input type="submit" value="Search"/> </div> </form> </div> <div id="translations"> <p> <span dir="ltr" class="original"><a lang="en" hreflang="en" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.en.html">English</a> [en]</span>   <span dir="ltr"><a lang="ar" hreflang="ar" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.ar.html">العربية</a> [ar]</span>   <span dir="ltr"><a lang="ca" hreflang="ca" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.ca.html">català</a> [ca]</span>   <span dir="ltr"><a lang="de" hreflang="de" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.de.html">Deutsch</a> [de]</span>   <span dir="ltr"><a lang="el" hreflang="el" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.el.html">ελληνικά</a> [el]</span>   <span dir="ltr"><a lang="es" hreflang="es" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.es.html">español</a> [es]</span>   <span dir="ltr"><a lang="fr" hreflang="fr" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.fr.html">français</a> [fr]</span>   <span dir="ltr"><a lang="hr" hreflang="hr" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.hr.html">hrvatski</a> [hr]</span>   <span dir="ltr"><a lang="it" hreflang="it" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.it.html">italiano</a> [it]</span>   <span dir="ltr"><a lang="ja" hreflang="ja" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.ja.html">日本語</a> [ja]</span>   <span dir="ltr"><a lang="ko" hreflang="ko" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.ko.html">한국어</a> [ko]</span>   <span dir="ltr"><a lang="lt" hreflang="lt" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.lt.html">lietuvių</a> [lt]</span>   <span dir="ltr"><a lang="pl" hreflang="pl" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.pl.html">polski</a> [pl]</span>   <span dir="ltr"><a lang="pt-br" hreflang="pt-br" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.pt-br.html">português do Brasil</a> [pt-br]</span>   <span dir="ltr"><a lang="ru" hreflang="ru" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.ru.html">русский</a> [ru]</span>   <span dir="ltr"><a lang="sq" hreflang="sq" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.sq.html">Shqip</a> [sq]</span>   <span dir="ltr"><a lang="uk" hreflang="uk" href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.uk.html">українська</a> [uk]</span>   </p> </div>   <div id="header"> <div id="fsf-frame"> <p id="join-fsf"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160221231927/https://www.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom?referrer=4052">JOIN THE FSF</a></p> <div id="fssbox"> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160221231927/http://www.fsf.org/fss">Free Software Supporter</a></p> <form action="https://web.archive.org/web/20160221231927/https://my.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?reset=1&gid=31" method="post"> <div> <input name="postURL" type="hidden" value=""/> <input type="hidden" name="group[25]" value="1"/> <input name="cancelURL" type="hidden" value="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile?reset=1&gid=31"/> <input name="_qf_default" type="hidden" value="Edit:cancel"/> </div> <p> <input type="text" id="frmEmail" name="email-Primary" size="18" maxlength="80" value="email address" onfocus="this.value=''"/> <input type="submit" name="_qf_Edit_next" value="Sign up"/> </p> </form> </div> </div> <div id="gnu-banner"> <a href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/"> <img src="/web/20160221231927im_/http://www.gnu.org/graphics/heckert_gnu.small.png" alt=" [A GNU head] "/><strong>GNU</strong> Operating System</a> </div> <p id="fsf-support">Sponsored by the <a href="#mission-statement">Free Software Foundation</a></p> </div> <div id="navigation"> <ul> <li id="tabAboutGNU"><a href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu.html">About GNU</a></li> <li id="tabPhilosophy"><a href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/philosophy.html">Philosophy</a></li> <li id="tabLicenses"><a href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html">Licenses</a></li> <li id="tabEducation"><a href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.html">Education</a></li> <li id="tabSoftware"><a href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/software/software.html">Software</a></li> <li id="tabDoc"><a href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/doc/doc.html">Documentation</a></li> <li id="tabHelp"><a href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html">Help GNU</a></li> </ul> </div>  <div id="content">  <div id="education-content">  <ul id="edu-navigation"> <li><a href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-contents.html">Education Contents</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-cases.html">Case Studies</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-resources.html">Educational Resources</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-projects.html">Education Projects</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-faq.html">FAQ</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-team.html">The Education Team</a></li> </ul>  </div>   <div class="center"> <h2>Free Software and Education</h2> </div> <h3>How Does Free Software Relate to Education?</h3> <blockquote class="note"><p> We are looking for free educational games, or information about free games that can be used for educational purposes. Contact <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160221231927/mailto:education@gnu.org"><education@gnu.org></a>. </p></blockquote> <p>Software freedom plays a fundamental role in education. Educational institutions of all levels should use and teach Free Software because it is the only software that allows them to accomplish their essential missions: to disseminate human knowledge and to prepare students to be good members of their community. The source code and the methods of Free Software are part of human knowledge. On the contrary, proprietary software is secret, restricted knowledge, which is the opposite of the mission of educational institutions. Free Software supports education, proprietary software forbids education.</p> <p>Free Software is not just a technical question; it is an ethical, social, and political question. It is a question of the human rights that the users of software ought to have. Freedom and cooperation are essential values of Free Software. The GNU System implements these values and the principle of sharing, since sharing is good and beneficial to human progress.</p> <p>To learn more, see the <a href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">Free Software definition</a> and our article on <a href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/shouldbefree.html">why software should be free</a> (as in freedom).</p> <h3>The Basics</h3> <p>The GNU Project was <a href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/gnu/initial-announcement.html">launched</a> in 1983 by Richard Stallman to develop a Free Libre operating system: the GNU operating system. As a result, today it is possible for anyone to use a computer in freedom.</p> <p>In this six-minutes video <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160221231927/http://www.fsf.org/about/leadership/#rms">Richard Stallman</a> explains briefly and to the point the principles of Free Software and how they connect to education.</p> <blockquote class="note" id="indepth"> <h3>In Depth</h3> <ul> <li>Learn about the <a href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-why.html">Reasons Why</a> educational institutions should use and teach exclusively Free Software.</li> <li>An article by Richard Stallman: <a href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-schools.html">Why Schools Should Exclusively Use Free Software</a></li> <li>An article by Dr. V. Sasi Kumar on the <a href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-system-india.html">education system in India.</a></li> </ul> </blockquote>  <video id="rms-movie" controls="controls"> <source src="https://web.archive.org/web/20160221231927im_/http://www.gnu.org/education/rms-education-es.ogv" type="video/ogg; codecs="theora, vorbis""/> </video> <p>  <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160221231927/http://audio-video.gnu.org/video/rms-education-es-high-sub.en.ogv"> Download and watch the video</a> at a higher definition in the Ogg Theora (ogv) free format.</p> <p>  Transcriptions of this video are available in <a href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/misc/rms-education-es-translation-to-en.txt">English</a>, <a href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/misc/rms-education-es-transcription.txt">Spanish</a>, and <a href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/misc/edu-misc.html#transcription-rms-education"> other languages</a>. </p> <p>  SubRip subtitle files are also available for download in <a href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/misc/rms-education-es-sub.en.srt">English</a>, <a href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/misc/rms-education-es-sub.es.srt">Spanish</a>, and <a href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/education/misc/edu-misc.html#subtitles-rms-education">other languages</a>. </p> </div>   <div id="fsf-links"> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/">GNU home page</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160221231927/http://www.fsf.org/">FSF home page</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/graphics/graphics.html">GNU Art</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/people/people.html">GNU's Who?</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160221231927/http://directory.fsf.org/">Free Software Directory</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160221231927/https://h-node.org/">Hardware</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/server/sitemap.html">Site map</a></li> </ul> </div> <div id="mission-statement"> <blockquote> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160221231927/http://www.fsf.org/"><img id="fsfbanner" src="/web/20160221231927im_/http://www.gnu.org/graphics/fsf-logo-notext.png" alt=" [FSF logo] "/></a><strong>“Our mission is to preserve, protect and promote the freedom to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer software, and to defend the rights of Free Software users.”</strong></p> </blockquote> <p>The <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160221231927/http://www.fsf.org/">Free Software Foundation</a> is the principal organizational sponsor of the GNU Operating System. <strong>Support GNU and the FSF</strong> by <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160221231927/http://shop.fsf.org/">buying manuals and gear</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160221231927/https://my.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom?referrer=4052"> <strong>joining the FSF</strong></a> as an associate member, or making a <strong>donation</strong>, either <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160221231927/http://donate.fsf.org/">directly to the FSF</a> or <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160221231927/http://flattr.com/thing/313733/gnuproject-on-Flattr">via Flattr</a>.</p> <p id="backtotop"><a href="#header">back to top</a></p> </div>  <div id="footer"> <div class="unprintable"> <p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160221231927/mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. There are also <a href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/contact/">other ways to contact</a> the FSF. Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent to <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160221231927/mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p> <p> Please see the <a href="/web/20160221231927/http://www.gnu.org/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations README</a> for information on coordinating and submitting translations of this article.</p> </div> <p>Copyright © 2011, 2012, 2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.</p> <p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160221231927/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/us/">Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License</a>.</p>  <div class="unprintable"> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160221231927/http://www.fsf.org/about/dmca-notice">Copyright Infringement Notification</a></p> </div>  <p class="unprintable">Updated:  $Date: 2014/11/09 13:17:16 $  </p> </div> </div> </body> </html>