Technology Vs Teachers

Technology plays a big role in today's education. Easy availability of computers and accessibility and affordability of internet connection means that an unlimited quantity of information on an unlimited number of topics is available for free at our finger tips. People have wondered if there is any need for teachers at all any more?
I saw this innovative approach used by Sugata Mitra here, and it made me think.

The large amount of information on the internet is similar to the huge amount of products and shops which are available within the real world. Just like people flock towards the product/shop with the most glossy look or in other words the product that is advertised more and made more visible, similarly within the virtual world some applications, or websites are advertised better and made more visible and hence they are the most popular. Using the model of learning using the internet, one cannot guarantee that the students will open the right sites and go about the process of learning in a systematic way. I therefore think it is very important that there are teachers who can push the students in the right direction. Giving assignments or open ended questions on different topics and asking them to do a research maybe one way of doing this.

Also there is so much information on the internet, but there is no obvious way of making sure of the correctness and validity of the data. Teachers are therefore required so that students can come and verify their findings, understand its context, and discuss its application for the problem at hand.

I also feel that the maximum impact of the internet based learning can be seen on the young minds in remote villages and rural areas just because good teachers don't want to go there, and these children are so unaware and unexposed to the rest of the world that exposure in any form is better than none. But unfortunately remote villages also mean that they may not have internet connection or even electricity to run computers. What can be done in this case? How do we solve this problem?

One idea I had was the introduction of compulsory community service for a fixed period for city schools/colleges. There are countries around the world where compulsory military service is required by everyone. Why can't we have something similar in India. Make students from secondary or high school (maybe in 9th std and 11th std) go to nearby rural areas and conduct workshops under the guidance of their teachers. The state government / local governing body can distribute the responsibility to all the schools and colleges of that area. The school that shows the best results could be rewarded.

So far I am sticking with the following equations

Technology + Good teachers = Best education

But in the absence of good teachers, technology + helping hand from other privileged sector of society =  Decent education