Chennai-based virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) startup Meynikara on Monday launched ‘Meta Kalvi’, Tamil Nadu’s first VR labs for excellence in education in three government schools and two business schools in Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni constituency in the city.
The launch of the educational VR labs took place in a shared 3D virtual environment called metaverse† School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, MLA Udhayanidhi Stalin and Member of Parliament Dayanathi Azhagiri attended the inaugural event.
Ganeshram, founder, Meynikara, said the experience of the immersive learning that VR brings would take education to another level. “The biggest challenge in India isn’t teaching, it’s about getting students interested. When the students enter the VR world, their level of interest increases. The VR learning model in Tamil Nadu will set an example for the rest of the country; this will definitely reduce dropout rates,” he said.
‘Meta Kalvi’ VR labs provides a virtual reality learning method (VRLM) for major subjects in Mathematics and Science from 6-9th grade in the Samacheer Kalvi Syllabus of Tamil Nadu State Board, both in English and Tamil. The initiative is likely to be extended to other schools under the Chennai Corporation and later to other parts of the state.
Raghuraman Ravi, co-founder and CEO of Meynikara, said the VR labs in schools are intended to provide students with a holistic and imaginative learning experience. He said that ‘Meta Kalvi’ will bring an educational revolution to the Indian education system.
“With the successful launch of ‘Meta Kalvi’, Tamil Nadu has reached another milestone by incorporating virtual reality labs into its education system. We aim to set up VR labs in all government schools in the state. We also expect rapid and widespread adoption of the technology by private schools,” he said.
The five schools will provide the team with a space on their property to install nearly 20 VR devices. A timetable is established according to which the students come to the lab, similar to how it was in the case of computer labs.
The teachers are trained by the startup team for almost two months. Raghuraman said students will initially be able to experience math and science through VR, and they plan to build a library for other subjects as well. The teachers can monitor the performance of the students and a scoring system is used.