Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE) has added Tamil and Kannada content to GCompris, a global educational software. This expansion offers new learning resources for students. KITE developed the content for its Kalipetti (Play Box) ICT textbooks. These textbooks are used by students in Classes 1 to 4. The addition makes GCompris more accessible to a wider range of Indian students. Previously, Indian language support in GCompris was limited. It mainly included Sanskrit and Malayalam.
GCompris Expansion
KITE CEO K Anvar Sadath stated this initiative broadens regional language support. Kerala provides textbooks in Tamil and Kannada. These are for students in border areas and minority language schools. KITE developed the localized content for its operating suite. This followed a visit from Timothée Giet, a GCompris co-maintainer. Giet requested KITE upload its language packages to the official repository.
Content Development and Release
KITE prepared 1,544 GUI translations and voice-overs in Tamil. It also created 1,582 in Kannada . The KDE Community, a free software developer group, approved the contribution. The new content is now available on multiple platforms. This includes the Google Play Store. GCompris offers nearly 200 activities. These activities help children up to ten years old. They focus on numeracy, literacy, science, and geography skills through play.
Global Contribution
Sadath highlighted Kerala’s leadership in Free Software implementation for education. He expressed pride in contributing local resources. KITE is also using GCompris’ client-server model. This model works offline. It benefits children with special needs. The update enhances the global Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) community.