“I’m not going to say this is what I think will happen. Instead, I’m going to say this is what will happen - and then you can tell me if you agree or not,” challenges Sugata Mitra, chief scientist and professor emeritus at the National Institute of Information Technology in India, during a session at the World Education Summit on Tuesday.

Famed for his 1999 “Hole in the Wall” experiment, in which an internet-connected PC was placed in a slum in New Delhi for children to use, Mitra has written extensively on the topic of technology in education, extolling the virtues of internet-based learning.

In his talk for the World Education Summit, Mitra made his predictions about how education will change, and what the future holds for schools. 

The internet will be used in examinations

Mitra begins his talk with praise for the current education system, saying that it has existed in its current form for hundreds of years, and that there is “very little wrong with it” but also adds that “the designers of this system did not anticipate the internet”.

This leads Mitra to predict that in the future examinations will be taken with full access to the internet. He argues that “we use it all the time, we’re not cheating - so why not let children use it?”

The curriculum will become what learners need to know

Using an anecdote about students inquiring about how a mobile phone location finder works, and how this initial question led to their questioning what trigonometry is, Mitra says that in the future, it will be learners deciding what they need to know.

The role of the teacher, says Mitra, will be asking the questions that will make the learners want to find out more.

Mitra adds that teachers may not have answers - or may choose to not answer the learners’ questions.

Finding out will be more important than knowing

Illustrating his point with a story from the classroom, Mitra describes how he challenged a class with a question about gross domestic product (GDP). The students initially had a strong reaction to Mitra, all believing they knew the answer already.

In groups, the class went off to investigate online, and in the process changed their initial opinions on the connection between GDP and happiness. This example shows, says Mitra, that finding out things matters more than remembering them.

Question - investigate - learn

Mitra characterises the current education system as following the pattern of “teach - learn - examine”. He says a curriculum is taught, the students learn, and then they’re tested on what they have learned.

In the future, Mitra predicts that this will be replaced by a new format, one that centres around the needs of the student.

Instead of “teach - learn - examine”, teachers will use “question - investigate - learn”. With the final “learn” being linked to the need to survive.

Computing - comprehension - communication

In the future, assessments will look different, says Mitra. “The three Rs of reading, writing and arithmetic will be replaced with the three Cs.”

Computing, comprehension and communication will form the assessments conducted by schools.

“If we know that the students have the three Cs of computing, comprehension and communication, then we know they have the ability to find out what they need to know,” he says. “This will matter more than ‘knowing’”.

Learners will work in cooperative groups most of the time - virtually and in person

“Group work will be important,” Mitra asserts. He says that in the future, learning will happen with students working together in groups, and that these groups may be with students physically together in the same room or geographically distanced yet together using the internet.

Learners will not be taught what they can learn themselves

Mitra says that to save time, learners will be teaching themselves what they can learn themselves.

The teacher will be there to deliver content that it isn’t possible to learn independently.

Schools won’t exist

“The virus has taught us learning can happen anywhere,” says Mitra.

Not only that, but Mitra says that “learners will not belong to a school” and the physical school building as we know it will become something of the past.

And it isn’t just the pupils. Mitra says that teachers will also not belong to any school or institution.

The curriculum will change

In the future, Mitra says what is learned will look very different to what is taught today.

“Children will learn about: the internet, networks, self-organisation, emergent phenomena, spontaneous order and the physics of uncertainty,” he says.

This change will be driven by the fact that there will be a shift in what people want out of education. “Such learning will help them survive and achieve,” he says.

Predictions and prophecy

Mitra starts and finishes his presentation by telling the audience at the World Education Summit that there will be those who disagree with his vision of allowing use of the internet in examinations.

He describes the difficulties facing those who try to predict the future, and says “prediction fails as soon as you cross 100 years”.

“The world has been changed more by prophets than anything else,” claims Mitra. “Prophecy is the way to predict the future.”