Education is never lacking in innovation as long a there are passionate educators who are willing to bring learning even in the uttermost parts of the world. Such is the case of School in the Cloud, which has been bringing learning to the most unlikely places with the most unlikely teachers.
The School in the Cloud was first known as the SOLES or Self-Organized Learning Environments and the brainchild of Sugata Mitra. He started his "Hole in the Wall" experiments in hopes that education can be brought to the poorest of the poor around the world through the Internet. His revolutionary idea included the belief that these children can actually learn almost anything by themselves when they have Internet.
In 2013, his idea caught the attention of the TED community and won him the 1 million USD prize making his dream a reality. The School in the Cloud has the vision that any children can engage and connect with different mentors from around the world online.
One of their programs named Granny Cloud Core Team involves retired teachers who volunteer to teach at least one hour every week to teach children online. Liz Fewings, one of the members and who has been with the organization since 2009, said that she was one of the small band of men and women who responded to that article posted on The Guardian. She recalled how most of them in the group didn't know that there is such an amazing technology called Skype.
One of the first student recipients of School in the Cloud was Gouri Chindarkar, who lives in a small village in Pune, India. She recalled that most of their lessons are called "granny sessions" where teachers feel more like grandmothers. These grannies, however, were indeed retired professionals from various fields. Now, Chindarkar is now working on her Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering in one of India's prestigious universities.
