Sundarbans college takes AI chatbot route to teach students
Times of India | 17 February 2025
Kolkata: In an attempt to tackle shortage of teachers, Rishi Bankim Sardar College in the Sundarbans — affiliated to the University of Calcutta — has introduced AI-driven chatbots to teach new subjects to the students under the four-year degree programme. These chatbots will help students access their course materials using android phones.
Four customised chatbots have been prepared for some mandatory subjects — part of ability enhancement courses (AEC) in English and Bengali — and common value-added courses like Indian Constitution, Environmental Science, and Indian Knowledge System. These chatbots focus on four different subjects for first and third-semester students.
"The number of subjects has increased under the four-year programme. For this, we require large classrooms and an adequate number of teachers. But we don't have these," college principal Tilak Chatterjee said. He also emphasised that the college made different slots for studying each subject . "Through this pioneering initiative, our college set a new benchmark in the field of education, serving as an exemplary model for institutions across the country," he added. But major and minor subjects will not be included.
These AI-powered chatbots have been customised to align with the CU-prescribed syllabus for each subject, utilising a robust knowledge base developed by faculty members and API resource integration.
Sharukh Molla, a first-year student, said, "The whole system is very easy to grasp. It takes very less time to get a detailed overview of the subjects like AEC-English, CVAC-ENVS, and CVAC-Constitution. Moreover, the AI classroom is very effective in clearing doubts and getting question patterns for each subject. There is an option to appear for mock tests as well."
Calcutta University interim vice-chancellor, Santa Datta (De) said, " During the pandemic, we had no option, but offline classes are the best procedure to build up a bond between students and teachers."