RETO aims for the Self-Learner’s Initiative (SLI) to be its flagship program. Born out of the team’s experience and interaction with children and graduates of different institutions, the SLI aims to tackle the problems of poor teaching quality and education infrastructure, by giving the power of learning into the student’s own hands.

The aim of SLI is to fulfill RETO’s vision of using computers and technology to revolutionize the way people learn. Taking advantage of technology, we aim to reach, engage, and transform through outreach the effects of good education through a year-long “Computer (for) Literacy” program. We feel that students can be guided to a point where they themselves become their own teachers.

In a place where only showing children the possibilities of Google can create a difference, a program which goes a little further and shows the possibilities presented by the computer and internet can make a significant impact. Moreover, this change will not only be limited to the individual, but also over time, show itself within the community. An opening into the world-wide-web would help the people of the community to gain global skill sets to apply in solving their local problems.

Introducing people to computers and the internet in rural areas has already proven to add value to human capital. Whether it is Minimal-intrusive education like the Hole-in-the-Wall experiment in India or more guided programs such as SchoolNet of UNESCO; in the long-term, computers and technology opens up a world of possibilities which are of even more value to the rural populations as compared to urban populations.

Moreover, RETO is specifically targeting those populations who have already been introduced to technology, but do not know its full potential. In this way, RETO will avoid cultural-intrusion, and guide students towards positive utilization of what has proved to be both a very benefitting and very damaging invention.