Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has embarked on an ambitious project to put a million PCs into the hands of educators and students by 2011.

A major part of that project is to provide entry-level desktop computers based on the Intel Atom processor and Moblin technology with its associated software stack. Intel, in cooperation with MOET, Intel’s Vietnamese channel partners, the Vietsoftware software company, the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group and others are teamed on the project.

The plan is to put the computers in primary, secondary and university classrooms all across the country, especially in remote and rural areas, to help improve the quality of education by introducing teachers and students to computers and to the resources of the Internet. The immediate goal is to provide every teacher in Vietnam with an affordable PC with a package of educational software and broadband Internet connectivity that will enable them to leverage the power of e-learning to improve education throughout the country. The computers will be built by 14 Intel channel partners in Vietnam and supported locally as well. To provide connectivity, the VNPT is offering a deeply discounted Internet connection to the educational segment.

A member of the Asianux consortium, Vietsoftware specializes in providing open source versions of software, including Asianux Lite, a Moblin technology-based Linux operating system, which are customized for Vietnam. The company was the first operating system vendor in the Asia Pacific region to productize Moblin v2 to take advantage of the rich media, social networking and ease-of-use features.

“Vietnam is a developing country and still faces many difficulties from the development process,” says Ta Quang Thai, director of Asianux Vietnam (a subsidiary of Vietsoftware) and business director of Vietsoftware.

As part of its efforts to become more competitive, Vietnam is modernizing its educational system and extending technology-enabled education to all the schools in the country. “The goal of the project is to provide computers to help pupils and students easily approach information technology, to let teachers easily have modern equipment to help in giving their lectures, and to let schools easily implement their educational IT systems, and finally to set up the national educational network at an affordable price,” says Thai.

“This project not only focuses on affordability, but also on providing a local IT support system from the hardware level to the software applications and e-content throughout the whole nation,” Thai says.

The project requires computers which are easy to learn, easy to connect in both the classroom and to the Internet, with powerful software. Versions of Linux based on the Moblin stack and the Intel Atom processor are well suited to Vietnam’s educational needs. The Atom has low power requirements, enhanced performance and advanced features to support multimedia and Internet connectivity. Moblin technology and the products derived from it are specifically designed to provide a rich user experience with an easy-to-use interface and the enhanced performance needed to run modern software.

The combination of Moblin technology and Intel Atom processor allows Vietsoftware’s channel partners to offer affordable, entry-level computers with innovative designs that offer a rich range of features that educational users, especially first-time users, need. In addition, the open source community nature of Moblin technology makes it easy to build customized versions of the stack both for special markets such as education and for localization in languages like Vietnamese.

“Asianux Lite was developed from the Moblin project as a local distribution [of Linux] in the Vietnamese language with strong modifications of the user interface, software bundle and a local update system,” says Thai. “The Moblin design and technology allow us to run a variety of open source applications at high speed on low configuration computers. It also provides a user interface that makes it interactive and easy to learn to use the system in a short time.”

In addition to the operating system built on Vietsoftware’s software stack (which is built on Moblin technology), the computers come with a variety of open-source software designed to make them useful in an educational environment for teachers and students. This includes the OpenOffice office suite with word processor, spreadsheet and other functions, and a browser. All the software is localized for use in Vietnamese.

The package also includes iTALC (intelligently Teaching and Learning with Computer) Classroom, an open-source educational offering that allows a teacher to monitor and control students’ computers in the classroom and iTALC iTest Quiz, which automates student testing.

Besides the software provided with the computers, MOET is encouraging educators to write additional software for learning. At the time the program was announced, the ministry also announced a contest for teachers with a stated goal of generating a million locally developed e-learning applications. The entries will be judged by a dedicated contest jury board.

The project has enthusiastic support from the Vietnamese government. “We are all aware of the benefits of Information and Community Technology adoption in education,” says Quach Tuan Ngoc, CIO and director general of the ICT department of MOET. “With the support of advanced technologies, our teachers and students will be connected to the huge knowledge resources of the world.”

Dr. Nguyen Thien Nhan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education and Training of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, in announcing the collaboration with Intel on the program said, “We recognize the value of a technology-enabled learning environment where education is student-centric and where learning is collaborative and connected.”

Rick Cook has been writing about computers and operating systems for more than 20 years. His more than 2,000 articles have appeared in most major computer magazines. For Moblinzone, he acts as an independent writer/reporter.