UDUPI: The 111-year-old Vandse Government Higher Primary School at Byndoor in Kundapur taluk, Udupi, introduced a generative AI teacher robot, which is the first such initiative in a government school in Karnataka.
IRIS, developed by Makerlabs Edutech under the NITI Aayog’s Atal Tinkering Lab project, was first introduced at KTCT Higher Secondary School in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, two years ago.
“Our school inaugurated the saree-clad humanoid to promote interactive learning. It is not an alternative to teachers, but teacher-friendly. The AI-enabled voice assistant supports interactive learning in over 20 languages, and we intend to utilise the facility from the next academic year.
A few private schools launched the facility earlier, and ours is the first government school in the state. We have installed projectors, smart interactive boards and a computer lab.
Our focus is on technology-based learning on par with the private schools,” said Uday Kumar Shetty, secretary of Shri Mookambika Charitable Trust that has adopted the school, adding that they have invested Rs 3.5 lakh for the robot.
Shetty said that for its effective functioning, they must ensure there is a proper internet connection and power supply. Makerlabs Edutech staff operate the robot if necessary.
The trust has invested around Rs 3 crore to improve the school infrastructure, including new classrooms, a solar system, a school bus, etc., to prevent it from shutting down when admissions were zero. English medium education was also introduced, after which admissions increased.
The authorities are hopeful of an increase in student strength after the introduction of the AI teacher, and already enquiries for admissions have increased. Presently, as many as 334 students from classes 1 to 7 have enrolled in the school with 15 teachers.