TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Rohan Davidi and Tanmay Haldiya believe people have a right to quality education - even during a global pandemic.
The Rickards High School students went home for spring break and won’t return to their classrooms for the remainder of the school year. This is Rohan’s junior year and Tanmay’s freshman year.
As it became clear Leon County Schools was moving to online education models, the teenagers decided to create a website to offer themselves as tutors during the pandemic.
“Tutoring should be free because public education is also free,” Tanmay, 15, told the Tallahassee Democrat. “In essence, we believe education is a civil right.”
The teenagers reached out to friends of theirs they thought would be interested, who reached out to others. Right now, ViralTeach.com, as they’ve named the website, has 12 high school students signed up as tutors. They launched the first week of April.
“We seek to fill the shoes of a teacher who would stay after school to teach students,” Tanmay explained.
Rohan said his teachers are working hard to connect with students and keep up with instruction while schools are shuttered. But the group at ViralTeach steps into the cracks that have opened up in local education as students learn from home, he said.
Because remote teaching has its limits, students are “not getting the free public education they’re dependent upon, despite the best efforts” of teachers, the 16-year-old said.
Rohan is president of the programming club at Rickards, where Tanmay is a member. They met through the club at school. The week after spring break, the boys chatted in an video call to discuss their idea that became ViralTeach.
“Distance learning is definitely much harder to come to grips with than regular physical interaction,” Rohan said.
Tutoring hours depend on the demand for help, Rohan said. He estimated that seven tutors currently host regular one-on-one sessions and a couple of tutors have group lessons.
Rohan himself has responded to students in Wakulla County who messaged him asking if he could teach lessons in Spanish. Rohan is proficient enough to teach younger Spanish-speaking students.
For Leon County student Jenna Jeon, ViralTeach is a good way to keep up with classes and socialize with peers online. Jenna, a 14-year-old freshman at Rickards, signed up as a pupil about three weeks ago.
She first heard about the website from Tanmay, who is a classmate. Her younger sister is in fourth grade and also takes lessons through the website.
Jenna now has applied to be a tutor for younger kids in elementary school.
“I think it’s very helpful, especially since we’re all quarantined,” she said. “We get to learn something and also see other people that are not your family members.”
She said it’s helpful to learn from fellow high school students who can relate to what she’s going through, she said. Some of the older tutors may have had her current teachers and will give her advice for navigating assignments.
And seeing that her classmates are not sick is uplifting during a global crisis, Jenna added.
“It makes me feel less lonely since we’re all isolated,” she said. “And also the fact that everyone else is doing well, too. That makes me feel better.”
Rohan said the group of tutors want to help “as many students as possible,” which is why they are not charging for their time.
Tanmay and Rohan sought guidance from Rickards teachers, including International Baccalaureate Coordinator Joe Williams, to set up ViralTeach. The teens developed a Code of Conduct for tutors to follow that includes a paragraph about tutors teaching concepts and not filling out homework.
“Tutors are NOT to simply provide answers or allow the student to violate the integrity code of their academic establishment by submitting work that is not their own,” the code reads.
Tanmay and Rohan hope the website gains traction throughout the district. Various schools, including Fairview Middle School, have emailed parents a link to the website.
Once a student signs up with ViralTeach, a tutor will meet with him or her to assess academic needs and the student will be assigned to the right person.
“Having students within our own community helping each other out, that’s the most reliable resource,” Rohan said.
Part of ViralTeach’s code of conduct also includes parent or guardian permission for a student to sign up. Right now, the group is requiring students who want to become tutors to be in high school.
The number of tutors who can sign up to volunteer their time will depend on the number of students who sign up.
“We will see it through and see how far it goes,” Rohan said.
Tanmay echoed his co-founder’s words but said they hope the website takes off: “We eventually want it to escape and grow, virally,” he said.
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