Village school in Maharashtra welcomes ‘Alexa teacher’
Virtual assistant, the third teacher in Waruda’s primary school, is being seen as a game changer
Unlike other municipal primary schools in Maharashtra’s Badnera town, the one in Waruda has ‘three teachers’ for its 42 students studying from Classes I to IV.For a similar school, the ratio may have been only two teachers. In Waruda, besides teacher Amol Bhuyar and headmistress Sushma Kapse, there is also Alexa. Amazon’s ‘virtual assistant’ is the ‘third teacher’ in the Marathi medium institution.
Slow net speeds
Sharing the one-time investment cost with Ms. Kapse, Mr. Bhuyar has independently built a mannequin around an Amazon Echo device, giving a face to Alexa. Poor Internet speeds in the hinterland notwithstanding, students speak to Alexa in English, and are now learning math, poems, general knowledge, weather information and more, from the device. Bollywood music now forms a part of the school’s extra curricular activity.Mr. Bhuyar said he realised very early that Alexa could be a game changer for his students.
“It was during a ‘go digital drive’ by the Amravati municipality in its schools that I had this brainwave of trying to push boundaries using technology,” he explained.
Regards
Mr. Pralhad Jadhav
Research Scholar (IGNOU)
Senior Manager @ Knowledge Repository
Khaitan & Co
Mobile @ 9665911593
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