The Shuttleworth Foundation initially brought paper-based LPI exams to South Africa in 2004 to offer affordable, reputable, distribution-independent GNU/Linux certification to its volunteers. As the national need and demand for such certification grew, the foundation started offering the examinations to outside parties, which led to the demand for training materials and approved training providers. The Meraka Institute will follow on from the work done by the foundation to advocate, market and offer services related to the LPI certification programmes.

Karien Bezuidenhout from the Shuttleworth Foundation said the foundation supported the LPI as a reputable Linux certification body and that the foundation is delighted that the Meraka Institute will continue with this initiative.

Bob Jolliffe and Pumeza Ceza from the Meraka Institute's Open Source Centre will work together to accelerate the adoption of LPI certification in South Africa. The Meraka Institute, like the Shuttleworth Foundation, is not driven by commercial interest or the desire to compete in the market. Instead, the institute is committed to the task of growing free software adoption in the country.

The current expansion of free software usage has already led to an increased demand for skills development. This will become particularly urgent in light of the adoption by cabinet last month of a new Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) policy for government. Ceza sees the LPI as an essential ingredient in the provision of a high-quality certification to support the required skills development programme in the information and communications technology (ICT) domain . “One of the insights we picked up from our German counterparts responsible for LPI examination and certification, is how the LPI can be used in support of, rather than in competition to, other GNU/Linux vendor certifications”.

Jolliffe outlined some of the directions in which he hoped the Meraka Institute might be taking the LPI. “We are very fortunate not to be starting from scratch,” he said, acknowledging the tremendous work done by the Shuttleworth Foundation over the past few years. Moving forward, he identified three key tasks for the year ahead:

Engagement with public training institutions, particularly technical universities and Further Education and Training (FET) colleges, to integrate Linux training leading to LPI certification into their curriculum offerings. This will involve setting up a new academic partner programme; Working with the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) to make it easier for providers to align their GNU/Linux training offerings with the national qualifications framework; Establishment of LPI-SA as an independent and sustainable not-for-profit association with a strong mandate from the FOSS community, business and government.