Since the COVID-19 pandemic, digital learning has been a significant part of education. However, many students in villages and small towns in India have been inversely affected due to their lack of availability of internet connections, computers or even mobile phones. For example, during the pandemic, the students in tribal villages of Kerala did not know about online classes being announced by the government. Moreover, their teachers were helpless as the schools lacked basic facilities for providing online classes. Even before the COVID-19 such regions were marred by the shortage in the number of schools, lack of pocket-friendly educational institutions and inadequate infrastructure. 

Teachers who are not well-versed in technology contribute to the issues faced by the enhancements in digital education in rural India. Also, since India is a country with multiple local languages, instructions in English will affect the level of understanding of the pupils. Also, there are issues of gender inequality as the penetration of online learning amongst the female population in rural parts of India is even less. 

In this scenario, EdTech platforms in India are gradually making their way to rural India. They are paving the means for rural children to access forward education through technology. The adoption of EdTech in rural India was greatly encouraged by the collaboration with government, non-government organizations and institutes. In rural and underdeveloped areas, EdTech companies are establishing efforts to cater to the least fortunate fractions of the student population. Some EdTech companies depend on conversational AI bots to bridge the gap between human and computer language to communicate more efficiently. 

Conversational AI in Education 

The use of conversational AI will mend the education gap. Inter twinning academic resources with conversational AI can deliver content for the users based on their customization. This technology is adjusting the pace of learning for every student. The EdTech platforms and shifting direction of chatbot-assisted instruction and learning to spice up the outreach of high-quality schooling in India. WhatsApp-based dialogue AI chatbots provide web-based, synchronous and self-paced studying. 

Synthetic intelligence can create a significant impact on studying, instructing and schooling. They have introduced changes into how studying occurs, altering how studying is messed up, re-organized lecture rooms and enhanced the effect of instruction. 

Conversational AI in rural India 

ConveGenius is one of the many EdTech social enterprises present in the country. Against the backdrop of the pandemic-led technological shift, this organization boosted the outreach of EdTech platforms by moving from tablet-based adaptive learning. Viprav Chaudhary founded the organization during COVID due to significant barriers in India’s rural education system. In a statement, he said that education shifted to the online medium, and device inequity emerged as a major problem faced by the majority of students. He also added that they realized the need to turn "adversity into an opportunity” to resolve this challenge. 

Similar to ConveGenius, companies like Counting Well are creating an impact in education in Rural India. Here are some elements of Conversational AI that are redefining online education in rural India: 

• Teachers can upload educational videos in vernacular languages. 
• Education Chatbots mediate interaction with learning materials, peers and instructors. 
• AI chatbots bring ease in learning as they can converse with students in any surrounding through a sequence of standard text messages or multimedia files. 
• They act as a teaching assistant that helps teachers understand individuals' needs based on the data gathered from their queries on the platforms. 
• Children can get clarifications for their doubts through FAQ Chatbots 
• Voice assistants that use Automatic Speech Recognition, NLP, Advanced Dialog Management and ML understand, react and learn from every interaction and thus assist students. 

Conversational AI has aided students, parents and teachers on various levels. It helps students to retain information better as they can learn at their own pace. Personalized education for each student was a distant dream for India. Conversational AI has made this dream a reality. 

Source:

BW Education

Higher Education Digest