'Hole-in-the-Wall'

"There are places on Earth, in every country, where, for various reasons, good schools cannot be built and good teachers cannot or do not want to go…."

Keeping this problem at the forefront of his agenda, Mr. Sugata Mitra started a revolutionary movement 13 years ago. He came up with a tremendously powerful idea that is known throughout the world today as 'Hole-in-the-Wall'. This was an idea that complemented the framework of traditional schooling, a solution that uses the power of collaboration and the natural curiosity of children to catalyze learning. Currently, there are 200 learning stations comprising of two computers each across the length and breadth of India. Most of these are situated in remote, rural and difficult terrains; a few are in tribal areas and juvenile homes.

Following this innovative model, JAAGO Foundation, with the collaboration of QUBEE, is trying to implement something similar in Bangladesh.

Two well configured computers have been placed in a convenient location just outside the main gate of JAAGO under this project. The computers have been placed in such a way that they can be easily accessed by the underprivileged kids living in the nearby slums any time they like.

These two computers have been wired with two 1 Mbps dedicated internet connection. The kids will be encouraged to do whatever they like with the computer. They will also be encouraged to use the internet as much as possible. With the help of thorough auditing and monitoring of the development parameters, a detailed report will be prepared every month highlighting the activities of the kids, for one year, to understand how close we have come to achieving our goal.

Through this project, we hope that these underprivileged kids will be able to express their free will to articulate their imagination with the help of modern technology. We wish that this project becomes a village well for the slum dwellers, where children assemble to draw knowledge and, in the process, engage in meaningful conversation and immersive learning activities that broaden their horizons. We also hope that it will be an extension of their playground to the children, where they can play together, teach each other new things, and more importantly, just be themselves. If the results of this project are satisfactory, we hope to implement similar projects in different areas of the country.