Learning Stations in Khajuraho, Rural India

Our goal is to implement in June, 2012 in Khajuraho two Hole-in-the-Wall learning stations (= two computers, four screens). Hole-in-the-Wall is a surprisingly fresh perspective on the learning process. Breaking the traditional confines of a school, Hole-in-The-Wall takes the learning experience to the playground, employs a unique collaborative learning approach and encourages children to explore, learn and just enjoy!

Khajuraho is a UNESCO World Heritage site and has the largest group of medieval Hindu and Jain temples, famous for their erotic sculptures. In spite of being a tourist attraction, social problems (sanitation, hygiene, health issues, illiteracy, poverty, dirtiness) are obvious in the village with its 25.000 inhabitants.

With the two learning stations and their +400 learning programes we want to tackle the above mentioned problems and to create a positive environment and starting point for a school to be built there soon.

For educators the learning stations are a ‘Shared Blackboard’ which children can collectively own and access, to express themselves, to learn, to explore together, and at some stage to even brainstorm and come up with exciting ideas.

For villagers, it is more like a village well, where children assemble to draw knowledge and, in the process, engage in meaningful conversation and immersive learning activities that broaden their horizons.

And finally for children, it is an extension of their playground where they can play together, teach each other new things, and more importantly, just be themselves.

For 10.000 € we get the two learning stations (see photo to the right) including monitoring and usage evaluation plus community conversations at the beginning, after six months and at the end of the first year.

More info here: www.hole-in-the-wall.com

Initiators: Rajiv Gautam, entrepreneur, Khajuraho; Ulrike Reinhard, activist, Heidelberg; Egon Zippel, artist, Nes York.