When the coronavirus pandemic closed school campuses in mid-March, it could have been the end of 17-year-old Jai Mehrotra-Varma’s peer tutoring service, Tutor Nirvana.

Instead, the Clovis North High School junior has taken his services from face-to-face to Skype, Google Hangouts and even FaceTime.

Now Jai is hoping to expand Tutor Nirvana from Clovis North to all of the central San Joaquin Valley, where he knows students are preparing for AP exams in May, or otherwise struggling with homeschooling.

“I’m basically trying to extend our availability to any kid that needs help in the Central Valley,” he says, “especially since schools are closed and teachers are still trying to figure out the shift to teaching remotely.”

With most of the nations school’s shuttered, tutoring services, especially those available online, are expected to grow as millions of students move toward distance learning. The online tutoring service Preply recently reported a record spike in traffic on its platform since the COVID-19 pandemic began, according to Tech Crunch.

But unlike many online tutors, Jai’s team works for free.

Jai started Tutor Nirvana in August 2019, and he and about 10 other Clovis North students have helped more than a dozen students.

With guidance from his teachers and counselors, he created the tutornirvana.com website last year, posted fliers around campus and reached out to teachers to promote his services.

“We want to reach out to struggling students who need extra resources, but may not necessarily be able to pay for things like that,” he says.

Jai says he’s also found students are more comfortable and study better with their peers.

Jai’s former teacher, Lavinia Terra, describes Jai as an academic standout who’s also humble and altruistic.

“Jai has spent many of his lunches in my room studying, helping friends in other subjects, and just hanging out,” she says.

Terra, who has known Jai for three years, says he thought about charging for his services and donating the money to charity, but ultimately decided not to.

“I think the intrinsic value of helping others was what motivated him to start this tutoring service,” she says. “Jai’s patient, resourceful, empathetic, and ultimately just wants to help students achieve their academic goals.”

With the staff he has now, Jai says he can cover most high school courses, including AP Calculus, biology, chemistry and physics.

“We have tutors who have taken those exams and gotten fives on the AP tests and have succeeded in the class,” he says.

Jai is looking for more students who want to be tutors. He says he vets every student who works for Tutor Nirvana to make sure they’re qualified.

Middle school tutoring

After watching his older brother tutor, Shiv Mehrotra-Varma was inspired.

Shiv, a seventh grader, started his first tutoring session on Friday, and middle schoolers at Granite Ridge Intermediate can now sign up for sessions with him. He is also hoping to attract students who’d like to tutor alongside him.

Jai says he is excited for his little brother.

“I am very happy he joined me, and when he enters high school, I hope he can expand what I’m doing to make an even bigger impact.”

Tutor Nirvana lives on

Jai says he’s always pushed himself academically and has participated in competitions, such as the USA Biology Olympiad and Science Bowl.

“I’ve had to learn a lot of material in biology and chemistry that’s typically taught at the college level, and I was fortunate enough myself to get online tutoring for the subjects.”

He says his tutors were knowledgeable and inspiring.

“They really fueled my passion for learning,” he says.

Although he wants to go to medical school and become a doctor, he is also pulled by an urge to teach.

“I’m probably also going to look into possibly being an academic researcher or a teacher in the medical field,” he says. “I really enjoy taking that knowledge and passing it down to other people.”

Jai says, most of all, he wants to help his community get through the pandemic.

“We can have this totally disrupt our way of life, and we can choose whether this brings out the best or the worst in us,” he says. “So, any students who are interested in getting a little bit of extra help, we’re definitely here.”

The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Learn about The Bee’s Education Lab on our website.

This story was originally published April 14, 2020 at 8:22 AM.