Kamala Nimbkar Balbhavan Becomes the School in the Cloud

The sixth school in the cloud in the world, fourth in India and the first in Maharashtra opened at Pragat Shikshan Sanstha’s Kamala Nimbkar Balbhavan (KNB) on December 3, 2014. In a small informal programme organized at the school the newly constructed SOLE lab was inaugurated.

School in the Cloud project is a brain child of Prof. Sugata Mitra, 2013 TED Prize Winner and Professor of Educational Technology at Newcastle University, UK. The concept of SOLE (Self Organized Learning Environment) is central to this project. Children learn in groups with the help of internet. The teachers’ job is to pose intelligent questions. They also speak with the grannies and grandpas from Spain, UK, Germany, US and Australia in the granny cloud programme. This programme has helped improve children’s English speaking skills and self confidence.

In the inaugural programme on 3 December Dr. Manjiri Nimbkar, Director, PSS explained why PSS decided to be a part of this project. Dr. Suneeta Kulkarni, Research Director of the school in the cloud spoke about the cloud projects around the world. Prof Sugata Mitra shared his thoughts through Skype. KNB students spoke about their grannies and grandpas.

Mr. Ashis Biswas, Project Manager, School in the Cloud, India, Researcher Mrs. Prasanna Hullikavi and Mrs. Soma Sarkar from New Era School, Panchgani were honorable guests for the programme.

Pre-inauguration news at the Newcastle University website www.ncl.ac.uk/socialrenewal/newsandevents/news/item/school-in-the-cloud-allows-children-to-explore-the-world-at-their-fingertips