A government school in Waruda, a small village in the Amravati district of Maharashtra, has been teaching 42 students a variety of topics and subjects, ranging from mathematics to poetry, without formal classroom sessions with in the flesh teachers, according to a report in The Hindu newspaper. The third teacher is Amazon's Alexa virtual assistant device, powered through an Amazon Echo encased in a mannequin.
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The school has two convention teachers, Sushma Kapse, who also serves as the school's headmistress, and Amol Bhuyar. Mr Bhuyar had the idea of incorporating Amazon's Alexa Device into the classroom to aid teaching and education in rural areas.
Although the village children at first could not speak in English, the two teachers taught them how to ask Alexa questions in English.
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"We have in the last 11 months trained students on how to pose questions to Alexa in proper structure. Students ask about 15 questions a day. They prepare these questions at home and come to school," headmistress Kapse said, as quoted by The Hindu newspaper.
The teachers believe the technology makes learning more interactive and fun for the children.
"Chapters like the one on country's renowned cricket player Sachin Tendulkar have generated lots of interaction," Mr Bhuyar said.