Madras Christian College in Chennai is set to introduce an indigenous AI voice scribe that will allow visually challenged students to dictate examination answers without depending on manual scribes, the institution said. The system is expected to be introduced during the third internal continuous assessment before the November 2026 semester examinations.
The software, called Voice Chat Scribe, has been developed in-house with support from the MCC-MRF Innovation Park in Tambaram. According to MCC Principal Prof Dr P Wilson, the college decided to develop the system as the number of volunteers available to act as scribes declined and concerns grew over the accuracy of manual transcription.
MCC said manual scribes could make transcription errors or, unintentionally, influence how a student’s answers were recorded. The new platform is intended to allow students to dictate their responses directly into a secure system, removing the need for another person to transcribe their thoughts during an examination.
The platform will include voice-based functions for navigating examination questions, repeating audio prompts and checking word counts. Students will also be able to use voice commands or keyboard shortcuts for formatting tasks, including bolding, underlining, rearranging paragraphs and inserting subheadings.
The system has been designed to distinguish spoken software instructions from the candidate’s dictated answers. MCC said its voice-recognition engine is being developed to support both English and Tamil, while the examination-answer dictation feature will allow students to respond in English.
The college said examination security was a key consideration in the system’s design. The software will operate on a restricted and confidential server environment intended to prevent malpractice and protect the integrity of assessments.
The decision to implement the platform followed discussions involving the Office of the Controller of Examinations, deans, heads of departments and the student support team for differently abled students. The initiative is part of MCC’s wider Student Services for the Differently Abled ecosystem and its skill-development work with the Help the Blind Foundation.
Prof Wilson described the platform as an additional inclusive service for visually impaired students. He said the voice-to-text conversion engine was developed indigenously by student interns at the MCC-MRF Innovation Park, with the college seeking to improve the accuracy and independence of examination writing.
Before the system is used in formal assessments, MCC plans to conduct training sessions and dry runs for visually challenged students and departmental nodal officers. These preparations are scheduled ahead of the formal assessments planned for next month, followed by the November 2026 semester examinations.
