Another BBC article on HITW

A Hole In The Wall
Via the BBC:
Teach-yourself computing for kids[...]The digital divide seems at its greatest in India. On one side you have some of the most advanced work in IT taking place in cities like Bangalore or Delhi.On the other you have children who have little or no access to new technology and live in conditions where clean water and electricity are still luxuries.It is this divide that one man, Sugata Mitra, intends to bridge.He was first struck by it looking out of his office window.Breaking barriersInside his IT compound he could see the young techno-savvy professionals, belts hung with electronic gadgets.Beyond the perimeter fence, he could see the dispossessed children sleeping rough in a shanty town.He decided it was time to break a hole in the wall and give the children outside a chance to see what a computer was.He cut a hole and hooked one up. What happened next amazed him. They taught themselves how to use it.Sugata took his experiment further and set up computers amongst the underprivileged communities of Delhi.He built special kiosks where only children could reach the keyboard, and left them connected to the internet. In each case the results were the same.Without adult intervention, the children got to grips with the technology, even with their limited understanding of English.Sugata was able to make some important but controversial observations."Groups of children given adequate digital resources can meet the objectives of primary education on their own - most of the objectives."