Technology on top

In 1999, the chief scientist of Centre for Research in Cognitive Systems (CRCS) at NIIT, Sugata Mitra, conducted an experiment where a computer connected to the Internet was embedded in a slum wall and left for unsupervised use by children. The findings of the experiment, according to Mitra suggested that groups of children could learn to use computers and the Internet on their own, irrespective of who or where they were.Mitra said, ``If groups of children are allowed to work together, the learning is faster compared to the conventional model.'' Mitra and his team subsequently verified this unique discovery in intensive testing through a large-scale experiment, across India and Cambodia. This model came to be known as `Minimally Invasive Education' or MIE Technology, popularly known as the Hole-in-the-Wall experiment. It's a result of over 15 years of intensive testing and research and is based on the premise of incidental learning with minimum human guidance. In villages located in remote areas from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, researchers reported ... ...hundreds of children teaching each other to use computers through 'MIE' Kiosks.' The computers are provided in safe, public, outdoor spaces through innovative technologies developed by the CRCS. All activities at these kiosks are monitored remotely through the Internet from Delhi. This experiment led to Mitra being awarded this year's Dewang Mehta Award for Innovation in Information Technology, instituted by the Department of Information Technology. The award has been conferred on Mitra in recognition of his pinnacle achievement, the discovery of the pedagogy, science and technology of MIE. ``Using the MIE method, six to 13-year-olds can teach themselves to use computers regardless of their social, economic, ethnic and even linguistic status. This method opens intriguing possibilities at places where you do not have schools or people who do not have access to formal schooling system. It could be Tsunami-hit areas, Afghanistan and even Iraq too,'' remarked Mitra. The `Hole-In-The Wall' experiment enabled children to learn tasks like operating window functions, such as click, drag, open, close, resize, minimise, menus, navigation; draw and painting pictures on the ... ...computer, load and save files, play games, run educational and other programmes, set up e-mail accounts, send and receive e-mail, chat on the Internet and many more over a period of three months. As the experiment suggested, children, irrespective of their social, ethnic or educational identity, can learn to use computers by themselves, thereby closing the much-discussed `digital divide'. ``You must recognise the fact that quality teachers cannot be found in rural areas. The cities, whatever we say or project would always have an advantage over rural areas as the moment the teacher feels that he or she is good; the person would start looking for better options in cities. We have, here, a good case of automation, which can achieve results. Even, Arthur C Clarke says that a teacher who can be replaced by machine should be replaced,'' remarked Mitra. When asked that how can this technology make a difference to lakhs of children who do not have proper access to formal schooling system in our country, Mitra remarked, ``If you ask students... ... that why don't they feel like going to schools, most of them would come out with the same standard replies. Like, the school does not have adequate infrastructure, stinking toilets, teachers are absent during most of the times. It's not that children do not want to learn but the environment is such that they do not feel like going to schools. It's difficult to have clean schools and quality teachers in 6,00,000 villages across the country. The utility of computer setting in rural area is much more in rural than urban India. Learning from `Hole in the Wall' is unstructured as each child learns what he or she wants to learn.''