PSS Organizes International ‘School in the Cloud’ Conference

An international conference of ‘School in the Cloud (SinC)’ team was organized in PSS, Phaltan on 18 February 2016. It brought together grannies, teachers, educators and SOLE lab coordinators from all over the world.

Around 35 guests from about 10 different countries spend a week before the conference visiting the TED Prize research labs in Korakati, Chandrakona and Gocharan in West Bengal. Two of the SinC coordinators from PSS Madhura Rajvanshi and Sushama Pandit also joined these visits.

The conference was arranged in PSS’s Kamala Nimbkar Balbhavan. On 18th morning some of the grade 8 students took the guests on a Phaltan tour. The guests arrived on the conference venue at 10 am where they were greeted by the children dressed in costumes representing cultural diversity of India.

The informal interactions between the guests and children were followed by the main academic session. Director Dr. Manjiri Nimbkar explained the rationale behind setting up SOLE in the school. Chief guest Shrimant Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar expressed his views about the school and the lab.

During the conference There were presentations by Emma Crawley, the teacher who first tested SOLE in the UK, Katy Milne from the Greenfields and Sally Rix from George Stephenson High School about their experiences of running the SOLE labs.

SinC coordinators from India Madhura Rajvanshi, Moumita Dey and Ritu Dangwal and Project manager Ashis Biswas also narrated their experiences. Sarah Schoengold of the TED Prize provided a global perspective on SOLE.


Dr. Suneeta Kulkarni shared the Granny Cloud perspective. Many children talked about their beloved grannies in between the sessions.

Prof. Sugata Mitra in his closing address told a story from each SinC lab.

Some of the parents and students had arranged food stalls for the guests. So the guests got to taste special Maharashrian food as well as delicious diwali snacks before they left for Pune.

All the children, teachers and parents worked hard to make this conference a big success.