'My Kids Should've Studied Here'

In India, a lot of stress is put on computer education, yet we feel we lag behind...
Frankly, everybody is struggling with the same issues. Computer education in India is fairly unique. It's not like this in the US. Computers have not been a subject in the US. Computer programming has never been taught in public schools as a required piece of the curriculum. My daughter graduated from high school with high grades in maths and science but never took a computer course.
Your educators think they have overdone it. In the US, we've probably underdone it. But frankly, computers as a language or a course are getting less relevant since people might never need computer languages in the future. Earlier, we could talk to computers only in programming language but today you can do a lot of coding without learning one. The kids need to know how to use computers, not how to make them.

What is the situation in the US?
Indian teachers and parents are worried that the kids have too much homework, they work too hard, have too much to do and have no time to develop specialised skills. Our concerns in the US are the opposite-not enough homework, too much free time, not enough time spent on maths and science in classrooms. It is a great concern that American students are scoring last in maths and science in the whole world. The top scorer in maths and science is pretty much Asia.

Outdated syllabus is often a subject of debate in this country. What's it like elsewhere?
That's true everywhere. Keeping material updated in any system is hard and textbooks live forever. The only way out is to use technology. On the Web, though, you can change the content in one place and have the server update millions of desktops. The biggest virtual library in the world sits on the Internet. Let's use it. The reality is that a lot of people who take decisions on teaching curricula and methods don't use computers.

In India, illiteracy is a big issue. Without tackling that, will this programme not get restricted to the literate pockets?
The best way to get nothing done is to take up intractable problems which no one else has been able to solve in the centuries before you. Intel is aware of what it can't do. We know we can't change the condition of the poor and the illiterate but we can certainly expose them to possibilities. There are examples of children breaking out merely by seeing the possibilities. In India, the mobile computer lab is a definite start to reach the rural pockets and let kids see what's possible.

Anything unique about India-teachers, kids, their intellect?
I think your maths and science skills are outrageously good. I should have put my children in India from KG through Class 8. I greatly admire this country's passion for education. The valuing of education as a culture, the indisputable regard for educators and people attempting to educate a country of a billion people is very much to be admired. You should be proud of what you've done as a country.

How will the process of learning change in the future?
I think it will be a lot more student-driven in not only teaching methods but also in curriculum and development of content. The anywhere-anytime virtual classroom model will become more and more relevant in future. But real classrooms and teachers will not go away because there is a social experience one gathers from school that the virtual world cannot give you.