No, this is not an ATM. This is just a hole in the wall! And the Hole-in-the-Wall project offers a surprisingly fresh perspective on the learning process, breaking the traditional limits of teaching and learning in a school.

The initiative’s founder Sugata Mitra called its approach Minimally Invasive Education to describe how children learn in unsupervised environments. It was derived from a learning experiment he has done in 1999.

Hole-in-The-Wall takes the Learning Station to the playground, employs a unique collaborative learning approach and encourages children to explore, learn and just enjoy.

It can be seen as a ‘Shared Blackboard’ which children in underprivileged communities can collectively own and access, to learn and to explore together. The whole idea is based on the strong belief in the power of collaboration and the natural curiosity of children.

Until today Hole in the Wall Education Limited (HiWEL) set up some 300 ‘learning stations’, covering about 300,000 children in India and several African countries. I think, it is a great idea and I am convinced that it would work not only in developing countries but everywhere in the world. Just put more computers and learning stations outside the classroom!

In a video CNN’s Sara Sidner reports on the Hole-in-the-Wall project linking it to Danny Boyle’s award-winning film Slumdog millionaire. Have a look!