For tribal children of about 40 primary schools in Maoist infested Bastar district, Alexa is their new “teacher”.
A teacher who answers every question, which tribal children ask out of curiosity- from the number of states in India to the weather condition in Bastar Division.
“Alexa has changed everything in school for us since the last two months. We are excited to reach school to interact with Alexa. We get prompt answers with explanations…..We spend more than two hours with Alexa in the school,” said Manali Nagar, a class four student of primary school Lohandiguda.
The idea of introducing Alexa in the primary schools of Bastar was conceived by a Lohandiguda Block Education Officer (BEO) of Bastar district.
“My brother had gifted me Alexa and after using the device, I came to the conclusion that it can be used to teach the children of the region because firstly we have a lack of primary teachers in this area and secondly the device can answer any question which enhances the quality of primary education,” said Chandra Shekhar Yadav, the BEO of Lohandiguda block, adding that the Bastar area will always suffer from lack of quality teachers because no one wants to come to Maoist-hit areas.
Yadav said that a total of 64 panchayats come under his jurisdiction which has about 330 public schools and in all these schools, he is trying to enhance the quality of education. As per the records of Bastar district, a total of 1143 posts of teachers are sanctioned but only 554 teachers are presently working in Lohandiguda block.
“We are facing a dearth of primary teachers here and hence initially I decided to introduce a projector in the classes and then Alexa. Now, in about 200 school projectors are used and in about 40 schools we are using Alexa as a tool of teaching children,” Yadav said.
Yadav has ordered 20 more Alexa units for the tribal children.
Chief Executive Officer of Lohandiguda and probationary IAS officer, Abinash Mishra claims that it is not just about Alexa or Siri or Google assistant but they want to induct the best of technology in education.
“Firstly, we want to make the education process more interesting for students and reduce the gap between the rich and poor and to provide the best quality education to tribal students. Secondly, to fill the gap of good faculties in schools especially for science technology and mathematics,” said Mishra.
He further claimed that Mishra along with Yadav introduced smart classes in almost 200 schools out of 300 in Lohandiguda which is almost two-third and will soon make a fully digitized block in Bastar.
Talking about Alexa and its response, Mishra said that each child has inherent curiosity due to which they ask a lot of questions and they want answers to those.
“Technology can empower them to answer their questions. It has become so interactive… and here Alexa is playing a big role,” Mishra added.
Mishra claimed that the administration is planning to introduce Alexa in all schools of Bastar district.
“There is about 70-80 percent reach of internet in this district hence it is possible,” said Mishra.
