Clovis North students start free online tutoring program during distance learning

CLOVIS, Calif. (KFSN) -- A Clovis North student and his friends are finding ways to help their fellow students keep up with their studies at home.

Jai Mehrotra-Varma has been a volunteer tutor for years, helping fellow students struggling in certain subjects. This year he and his friends started Tutornirvana.com.

"The idea of this website is to serve as a connection service," explained Mehrotra-Varma. "Students can easily sign up on our website and see the availability of tutors and what subjects they're interested in."

The site allows students to log in and get connected with a volunteer tutor based on subject and availability, and it's all for free.

"We genuinely really want to help other students and we want to make that impact to our community, and we didn't want some students to be limited by the finances part of it," Mehrotra-Varma said.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, forcing classrooms to close, Jai and his friends took their tutoring virtual.

"We mainly made this shift to online as a result of the COVID-19 crisis and we think students are struggling a little bit more because teachers have had to figure out teaching remotely as a result of this crisis and how to teach students online," Mehrotra-Varma said.

"It's really easy because it's your peers and so it's so much easier to communicate with them," said fellow Clovis North High School junior Halle Adams. "It's benefited me 100%. I remember after my first session, I got a 100% on my quiz the next day."

Now Jai and his fellow tutors are hoping to help other students throughout the Valley.

"I feel that COVID-19 has really disrupted our way of life and our education system as well," Mehrotra-Varma said. "I feel like we can choose whether this turns the best or the worst out of us."

Any student that needs assistance in a certain subject or is interested in tutoring other students can visit tutornirvana.com to sign up.