A ‘magic doll’ that dances to students’ tune

From a distance, a figure standing in the corridor of the Government Lower Primary School Udayathumvathil in Panangad panchayat, along the suburbs of Kochi city, appears to be just another little girl in her school uniform and neatly pleated hair. Only on approaching a bit closer does one realise that it was a decked-up doll, much smaller than a mannequin, complete with a uniform and a bag on her shoulders. For the little ones in the school, initially, she was the ‘magic doll’ who had all the answers to their questions, albeit in a foreign accent alien to them, and obeyed their commands truthfully. Later they realised that it was not the doll, but ‘Alexa’, e-commerce giant Amazon’s cloud-based virtual voice service assistant, hidden in the school bag, who was answering them. The school with a total strength of 60 students was looking for ways to improve the communicative English of the students when a school headteacher’s meeting threw up the novel idea.

From a distance, a figure standing in the corridor of the Government Lower Primary School Udayathumvathil in Panangad panchayat, along the suburbs of Kochi city, appears to be just another little girl in her school uniform and neatly pleated hair.

Only on approaching a bit closer does one realise that it was a decked-up doll, much smaller than a mannequin, complete with a uniform and a bag on her shoulders. For the little ones in the school, initially, she was the ‘magic doll’ who had all the answers to their questions, albeit in a foreign accent alien to them, and obeyed their commands truthfully.

Later they realised that it was not the doll, but ‘Alexa’, e-commerce giant Amazon’s cloud-based virtual voice service assistant, hidden in the school bag, who was answering them. The school with a total strength of 60 students was looking for ways to improve the communicative English of the students when a school headteacher’s meeting threw up the novel idea.

In came Alexa and the child-size doll, thanks to sponsorship. “We could have implemented the idea last year itself, but for the availability of Wi-Fi,” says Teeja Thomas, school headteacher. The problem was sorted, thanks to the intervention of a former member of the ward and the serving panchayat development standing committee chairperson T.R. Rahul.

Thus, appeared Alexa in the guise of a student in the school corridor at the start of this academic year. Since then, it has become an immediate hit with the students, to the point that interacting with Alexa has become an inducement for students to come to school without fail.

“If there is a delay in bringing out Alexa in the mornings, they come to us asking where she is,” says Ms. Thomas.

Initially, there was a wild clamour as everyone kept asking questions simultaneously, leading to the confused Alexa remaining mum. They had to be taught that Alexa needs to be fed one command at a time.