Dressed in a blue shirt and tunic, the humanoid robot Shiksha blends in with students in Sirsi village. As she teaches rhymes, days of the week, and shapes, her presence sparks wonder in the children. It’s a remarkable learning experience for these young minds.

Shiksha is the brainchild of Akshay Mashelkar, a 32-year-old educator from Sirsi. Growing up in a teaching household, he always wanted to modernise rural education.

After becoming a professor at Sirsi, he struggled to find time for his ideas. When the COVID pandemic hit, he saw the chance to focus on transforming rural education. He wanted to bridge the tech gap between rural and urban schools.

Akshay noticed rural schools were stuck with outdated teaching methods. “It is sad that the world has advanced so much with smart boards, but schools in rural areas are still stuck with handmade charts,” he says.

After one and half years of research, he developed Shiksha, a humanoid robot capable of teaching students of up to class 4. Shiksha can teach in both Kannada and English.

It uses two cards, a master card to unlock the robot, and a programme card to start lessons. “The teacher has to put the master card on Shiksha’s hand to start it,” Akshay explains. The robot interacts with students by asking questions and reciting poems.

Building Shiksha cost Akshay nearly Rs 2 lakh, funded from his savings. “A lot of money was involved in the research and development,” he says. He used “jugaad” to reduce costs, like using plastic cricket stumps for the robot's arms.

Shiksha has visited over 25 schools in Uttara Kannada, including KHB and Urdu Schools in Sirsi. She teaches a variety of subjects, including rhymes, shapes, and math. The robot helps make learning more engaging for rural children.

Sunaina Hegde, a teacher at Model Higher Primary School, says, “The children were so happy to see her. For them, Shiksha was not a robot, but more like a friend.”

Akshay believes rural children should have access to technology. "An average child, living in an urban setting, knows how to use laptops and computers. Sadly, this is not true for kids in rural areas,” he says

He hopes to inspire children to create their own robots. “My motive behind making Shiksha was not only to introduce technology but also to encourage children to make their robots,” he shares. He also opened a mobile research center to help young robotics enthusiasts.

Although the first Shiksha was costly, Akshay plans to lower the price. “With the help of grants and support from the government and NGOs, I can possibly reduce the cost to Rs 35,000,” he says.