One of the significant challenges in a country as diverse like India is equitable access to quality education. Urban centres often benefit from advanced infrastructure and modern teaching methodologies but rural areas lag due to limited resources and poor training. Despite the difference, Akshay Mashelkar, an innovator and educator from Sirsi, is rising as a spark for transformation.
The ROBOT Shiksha
Akshay is trying to reshape the educational experience of rural students by his work with Experimind labs and the creation of humanoid robot SHIKSHA.
Akshay Mashelkar, the founder and CEO of Experimind Labs Pvt. Ltd. (An educational research hub that focuses on curriculum development and teaching experimental methods aimed to enhance students engagement) is a committed supporter of equitable education.
Mission – Rural India
Unlike others, Akshay choose to concentrate on rural India development. With his belief that the nation’s future lies in the hands of upcoming generations. His key goal is to make learning accessible, empowering and engaging for every child, irrespective of geographical or economic status.
Shiksha – The Teacher
A childlike humanoid robot developed as a teaching assistant in primary schools, is one of Akshay’s most innovative contributions. Designed in about 1.5 years with an investment of approximately 1.89 lakh, Shiksha is thoughtfully crafted educational ally dressed in blue shirt and tunic, with neatly parted two pleats. She’s skilled at speaking in both Kannada and English, and easily connects with young school students.
Do you know what the robot’s function is??
It is to assist in delivering primary lessons – alphabets, rhymes, numbers, basic shapes and more. Shiksha captures the students attention with its expressive eyes and friendly attitude. Breaking the typical study vibe it brings the sense of modernity and excitement into the classroom.
Bringing Major Change
Akshay built it to tackle the real issues in rural education of scarcity of qualified teachers, lack of engagement and modernity. Shiksha is now present in more than 25 schools of Uttara Kannada district and has made a major change in the subject of children’s attentiveness, learning and grasping new things.
Changing the Way
For students the robot is more like their friend than a teacher who understands their language and speaks like them. By speaking both in local language and English, bridges the understanding gap between the local language and global language.
The Impact
The impact of Akshay’s robot, Shiksha, is beyond expectations. In the areas where once people refused to send their children to school and where children struggled with engagement, Shiksha has generated excitement.
Teachers have noted better understanding and result in core subjects, attendance has improved. And on top of that students are now showing more interest in exploring new concepts. Students who were shy have now become participative all because of Shiksha.
The Challenges
As we all know, every success comes with its share of challenges, Akshay experienced them too. From ensuring affordability to convincing educators to shift from traditional education practices he has faced them all. Akshay’s motivation for all these came from his mother and wanted to work towards improvement of the education system from a very young age. His innovation is an example for all to think creatively, and stand out in life. He has not only designed SHIKSHA, but designed a future where children have the opportunity to grow ans learn.
