About

   I was lucky enough to get into a state-sponsored elite university called CIEFL, now EFLU (English and Foreign Languages University) at Hyderabad, India. My tuition fees were ridiculously cheap. I guess it was about 500 Rs approx i. e $10 per semester. My complete living expenses came to around $ 30 per month. I had access to some of the brilliant professors with two foreign degrees to their credit. Of course, I had to take a national entrance exam and beat hundreds of other students, in order to enjoy this privilege. Hence I became a part of the ‘elite’.

EFLU has 5 schools (I guess they have added some more now) dedicated only to teaching English Language! I never knew an M.A in English was that deep. We had a library of three floors for a batch of 60 students with a student teacher ratio of 1:2, yes, that is two teachers per student. There was a joke that CIEFL was a research institution with more professors than teachers. It’s no longer so, as EFLU is now a full-fledged Central University with hundreds of students although it enjoys the same state-sponsored privileges. For more information on how to enroll, visit www.eflu.ac.in

We were given a lot of freedom to think, to express ourselves. –‘ We don’t care about what the experts say about Shakespeare- what’s your view?’  we were asked. We had open book exams. We thought that was cool at first. But then we realized, it was really hard. It was similar to doing an assignment. Only, there were no readymade answers available on the Internet, or in books and journals and we had to submit it by the end of the day!

But I wanted more. After my first semester at CIEFL, I enrolled for courses in video documentary production. I ended up making 3 documentaries telecasted by India’s national broadcaster, Doordarshan’s education channel. I also did field investigation i.e research work requiring feedback, questionnaires, interviews etc for an Internet led School Learning initiative called ‘Schools Online’ and an UN funded IT based agricultural improvement programme. I even got paid, although I was pretty happy just getting to learn a lot about the initiatives, (which I should say were not necessarily running to their full potential).

My favourite haunt was the computer lab. I designed my first website for the CIEFL Film Club in around 2002 using Microsoft Frontpage after I discovered the ‘power of the hyperlink’. I was fascinated by how a hyperlink could magically transport me from one context to another in an instant. It was literally like time travel for me. I was just about getting to know the Internet at that time in 2001.

I was hardly ever present for the classes. Somehow, my professor’s did not seem to mind. They were OK with the fact that I was doing ‘more important work’ - producing documentaries, presentations for national level conferences, building websites, assisting with the film club and the news letter etc. So that was cool.

How did I do it? I spent a lot of time in the library. It was like a paradise. I had access to all these world class journals on English Language Teaching like Oxford University’s ELT Journal etc and even more online.

CIEFL was cool also because the library subscribed to Computer Magazines despite being a primarily English teacher training (ELT) institution. I devoured all of them and tested out all the trial software CDs'. That's when I also stumbled on the Open Source Software Movement.

 I understood that there are organizations around the world striving to make learning free and open. And I found out it was already a reality as long as one had an internet connection. I recall how I resisted using the default Internet Explorer and used Netscape Navigator or Mozilla/Firefox as a browser because the latter was open source.  In those days, open learning initiatives was primarily spear-headed by the MIT’s Open Courseware Initiative www.ocw.mit.edu Today we have many like Wikipedia,  TED,  Khanacademy etc.

I began believing that the privileges’ I enjoyed being a student at an elite university, sponsored by the taxes paid by hard-working Indians, could be enjoyed by everyone, at least as long as they had an internet connection. I was also mindful of the fact that I made it through to the entrance exam because my parents were well-qualified, encouraged me to learn at home on my own and could afford to send me to a good school. I wanted more kids to have that privilege, even if they didn’t have parents who were educated.

That was the key inspiration behind the New Teaching Manifesto and the Creativity and Critical thinking in School Project.

Please feel free to  share your school teaching/learning experiences as a student or teacher. Send them to chetanwpinto+NTM@gmail.com along with a small introduction about yourself.

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