[ubuntu-za] School Tool

[Weiers Coetser]

Good morning,

Right at the start I want to apologise that this might be a bit of an 
open-ended mail. I'm not quite sure what question to ask.

A family member of mine just took up the challenge of becoming a 
principal of a school in a rural area outside Butterworth in the Eastern 
Cape. Apart from a payroll system (VIP) the school has practically no 
information systems in place, even for basic things like managing 
enrollment, collecting assessment information, printing school reports 
etc. There is no network at the school and from what I gather, only 
dial-up internet. And the usual story with the school is that there are 
major financial restraints due to a history of poor management and 
working against all kinds of odds.

So he wrote to me for more information about School Tool. 
http://www.schooltool.org/

I think, what I am wondering is:

Is there anybody in this group who has some hands on experience about 
bringing IT systems to a school like this. It seems as though the 
challenge would almost be to build a system from scratch. It would be 
marvelous if I could put him in touch with somebody who could provide 
good advice.

He wants to try to get a feel for School Tool to evaluate how it works. 
I've asked him and there isn't a spare computer there right now, so I am 
wondering if it would be wise for me to suggest that he installs 
VirtualBox on his Windows laptop and then runs Ubuntu in there for a 
while. Even then I'll probably have to post him a copy of Ubuntu and 
Virtual Box, and SchoolTool due to the low levels of internet 
connectivity there. It sounds as though they might be prepared to invest 
in a seperate computer that runs School Tool on Ubuntu if they find that 
it is a suitable programme for their needs. Even with that there are a 
few basic questions eg. Would it be possible to link that computer into 
a lan so that other computers could connect to the school tool via a 
Windows based driver? etc.

Anyway, let me leave it open ended like this. Any wisdom would be 
appreciated.
(I live in Northern Ireland at the moment. I wish I could go and see the 
situation for myself!)

Weiers