A 'hole in the wall' helps educate India

Another positive note: These children seem to take sharing for granted, which cuts down on competition for the keyboard as it becomes, in Mitra's words, "very apparent to them that the ones who are the quickest to learn are the ones that should get time and be teachers to others." Thus, "teachers and leaders eventually emerge."

Hole-in-the-Wall has awakened new aspirations in some participants, who have gone on to take courses in preparation for high-tech careers, Mitra says. Many have changed their goals from say, rickshaw driver to engineer, and most now want to go to college.

Another fan of the experiment is Robert Hetzel, a Milwaukee, Wisc., native who directs the American Embassy School here. Like Mitra's company, the school shares a wall with New Delhi's biggest slum.

"What is being learned with Hole-in-the-Wall is how much kids can just figure out without adult assistance. The question remains as to whether the rate of learning could be accelerated with the aid of a teacher," Mr. Hetzel says. "At the same time, I am in awe of how much these poor kids have taught themselves about computers."

But for quality education, some experts insist the focus should be in having trained teachers for every class, not high-tech tools. "All the gadgetry in the world cannot equal the impact that a skilled and dedicated teacher has on a child, even in the most rural or slum of settings," contends Abraham George, a native of India and founder of The George Foundation, a not-for-profit organization in Bangalore that seeks to eradicate poverty in India. "Is this computer on the concrete wall near a slum area going to do something for the kids that the teachers have failed to do in conventional schools in India?"

Such remarks, whether in praise or condemnation of Mitra, are all just business as usual, suggests Ritu Dangwal, a young psychologist who serves as Hole-in-the-Wall's head of research. "People either think he's crazy, or become fanatic fans," she says.

Mitra holds numerous awards for such Internet innovations as NIITNetVarsity, the first virtual university, which went online in 1996.

The World Bank gave $1.6 million for Mitra's initial experiments in 23 rural locations around India, with various Indian government agencies, an Indian Bank, and one international agency offering additional assistance. Mitra estimates that Hole-in-the-Wall could go nationwide in less than five years at a cost of $1.2 billion for computers, miscellaneous expenses of $120 million, and recurring annual costs of another $120 million - or, as he puts it, less than 2 cents per child per day.

While the World Bank showed "some interest" in helping meet those costs, Mitra says he doesn't believe that the money, "if it ever comes, will be from the United States," as "primary education is not a priority in the US at the moment."

Equally scathing about the Indian government, Mitra speculates that, "in its slow and ponderous way, it may one day think about it."

Meantime, as a result of his success here, the innovator has been asked to bring Hole-in-the-Wall to Cambodia and South Africa, which means that, altogether, it has "been verified by 40,000 of the world's poorest children."

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