CHENNAI: Engineers and MBA graduates are among the 4,000 applicants for 14 posts of sweepers and sanitary workers in the Tamil Nadu assembly secretariat. They applied for this job under the impact of unemployment in India, says CEO and founder of Youcode Intelligence Solutions, Suriya Prabha K. Under the banner of AI For Kids campaign, this city-based start-up with five members has been spreading awareness about Artificial Intelligence (AI) among school students in rural areas.
It employs Google’s AIY kit and Amazon Deep Lens along with an array of robots, including MekaMon, Sphero, littleBits Anki Cozmo, Nintendo Labo and Lego Boost, to simplify coding and learn about AI in a fun way. So far, the team has visited 15 villages in Virudhunagar, Ramanathapuram and Madurai districts.
“Today’s children are growing up to live in an era of AI revolution. This realisation inspired me to prepare them for the future. Hence, I decided to tide over the hurdles and reach out to rural students, who will help India lead the digital revolution,” she says.
They cover three areas — code the robots, become a robot and experience the AI. “City kids will somehow get an opportunity to know about technological advancements. But, if not for movies like Enthiran and 2.0, it’ll take decades for rural children to know about AI,” she says.
Recently, the team visited Kappalur, a village in Madurai, and organised a similar programme, but with a difference. “Usually, we visit a government school and talk about AI only to students. For the first time, we arranged a similar session for both students and villagers with the help of the Village Administrative Officer Alagarsami. We informed about the AI For All programme by playing thandora,” she says.
Over 300 people enthusiastically participated. “Initially, it was a challenge to calm down the excited kids. When they were told that the humans will be sharing the future along with robots, they didn’t want the session to end. We were overwhelmed by their active participation. This motivates us to work more,” she says.
Suriya’s journey from graduation in microbiology to the world of coding took shape during the free hours she got after marriage. The 31-year-old mother of two says, “My husband Karthik Kannna is my inspiration and motivation. After regularly discussing with him about technology, I gradually developed a liking for it and started to learn coding.”
Calling the attention of the Central and state governments to the increasing number of ‘unemployable’ graduates in the country, Suriya says, due importance must be given for reformations in the education system, especially to up the standards of rural students. “Unemployment is not a problem in India. Unemployable graduates without technical skills are,” she asserts.
Soon, the CBSE will introduce AI for students from classes 9 to 11. Similarly, the state government should also revamp its curriculum by adding AI in its syllabus, she says. Already, high schools in China and USA have special classes for AI, preparing the next generation. Hence, for India to compete at the global level, we need funds. “With CSR funds or venture capital, this kind of awareness programmes could be taken to more students across the nation,” she says.
In future
Plans are on to pitch their ideas to Google’s Launchpad Accelerator mentorship programme, which has called for applications from start-ups in India to promote AI and Machine Learning (ML)