Meeting Professor Sugata Mitra

On Wednesday 16th June Professor Sugata Mitra was our guest – what he had to say was remarkable. Sugata is the originator of the ‘hole in the wall’ experiment in the slums of Delhi and then beyond, which demonstrated the power of children to educate themselves without the formal methods we are accustomed to. His work inspired the Indian diplomat Vikas Swarup to write a first novel which became the basis for the Oscar winning film Slumdog Millionaire. Sugata is now based at Newcastle University and is extending his teaching methods to children in Britain and Africa. The audience was riveted.