Xinhua, Gaza :
Despite a lack of materials and experience, some Palestinian teachers in Gaza have created an interactive robot to help students with their study.
Hasan al-Ruzzi, a teacher of engineering science at al-Basma school, told Xinhua that he came up with this idea in a bid to ease the learning process.
The instability in the Gaza Strip and the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic have overshadowed children’s school life. Education institutions were forced to close their doors for a long period of time last year.
The local authorities decided to reopen the schools this year. But that mission was not easy for teachers, as many students have problems catching up with the curriculum after a closure of school doors.
“This is why, my colleagues and I decided to invent an interactive robot that would help us in the educational process and encourage students to be more attentive during classes,” Al-Ruzzi said.
Al-Ruzzi and a couple of his colleagues spent two months making that robot. They called it Mr. Robot.
The robot, which can make some conversations with people, move from one classroom to another to help students from first to fourth grades.
“The educational situation inside the school has changed as if by magic. The students became more attentive and more interactive,” said Abdul Rahaman Awad, one of the inventors.
Abdulla Ferwana, a 7-year-old student in the second grade, said, “I am so happy because I have a new friend at school who encourages me to study and love my school.”
“When it explains our lessons, I feel as if it was a real teacher, not only a controlled robot,” the student said, adding that “I love our robot teacher so much and I hope to have another one in my class.”
Zina Mohammed, another student at the school, expressed her happiness to have an interactive robot that she could talk with.
But the matter will not stop here, as the teachers plan to develop Mr. Robot and turn it into a smart machine that can learn autonomously.
The teachers hope that more schools in Gaza would adopt this technology to help students learn better.
