We need to focus on areas machines are NOT GOOD at, which are human values and life skills. We also need to apply an educational pedagogy that aligns with how our kids learn outside the classroom — discovery with open-source resources versus teaching with book, project-based learning versus chalk and talk.

The progressives are beginning to re-invent education but the rest are left with the illusion of hope that the current education is preparing our kids for the future! It’s ironic but education may just help widen the gap in our society.

In Chumbaka, we are guided by our vision statement in designing our solution: “All children will have the right skillsets and values to navigate the changing future”. We start with what the future needs. For example, we require children to work on real problems in order to develop the right skillsets and values. They document this experience as their personal portfolio of knowledge, skills, and values. This is the new CV for their further education and future career.

In order to benefit ALL children, we are guided by the ancient wisdom – it takes a village to raise a child. We complement traditional and alternative schools in helping children develop life skills, integrate open source hardware and software developed by the global community, and curate available resources to re-ignite children’s inborn passion for learning. In this way, cost is optimized and the whole village whom we engaged with learns as well. We believe this is a sustainable way to re-invent education for all.