Posted by: ann s. michaelsen | August 12, 2008

Hole in the wall

Population density map of India.Image via Wikipedia

A billion people live in India — one of every six on the planet. Half of them are illiterate. Only one in four has access to adequate sanitation. Some 350 million Indians live on less than a dollar a day. Yet India is also home to some of the world’s most advanced high-technology firms, and New Delhi is Silicon Valley East.

Several years ago, a computer scientist, Dr. Sugata Mitra, had an idea. What would happen if he could provide poor children with free, unlimited access to computers and the Internet? Mitra launched what came to be known as the hole in the wall experiment. FRONTLINE/World producer Rory O’Connor first encountered Dr. Mitra and his experiment while directing a film on global poverty. See video here!

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Responses

  1. Hi – thanks for your post about this FRONTLINE/World story!

    Just wanted to let you know about another story your readers might be interested in – it’s called Kung Fu English and is about a young man in a remote Chines province who taught himself English using Kung Fu.

    A really unusual and fun story….

    http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/rough/2008/08/china_kung_fu_e.html

    check it out!

    Thanks,
    Charlotte
    PBS FRONTLINE/World


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