Two United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based Indian expats have started free online coaching for children who have dropped out of after-school private tuition because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Simran Kanal and Mehak Lalchandani, who have been best-friends from their Dubai school days, are running their newly-founded, PandemicCamp, to provide free online coaching for CBSE students whose parents can no longer afford private tutors, reports <em>Gulf News</em>.

Pandemic Camp is offering free Zoom lessons in English, Maths and Hindi for grades one to five, taught by the two former CBSE students Kanal and Lalchandani, both 2014 alumni of The Millennium School in Dubai.

"We're both very compassionate, both as students and as teachers. We came across parents who have had to withdraw their children from private tuition, so this camp is a way we wanted to give back to society," said Kanal, a freelance journalist and writer who works for an online marketplace platform.

Lalchandani, a finance degree holder, said: "Since we're very familiar with the CBSE curriculum, that is why we chose CBSE and are catering to primary school grades."

She said the sudden switch to distance learning has not been easy for students, teachers and parents.

"In a classroom, you have 30 students and you have to personally go to a student and see what they're doing in their book. But when you have 30 students online, then it's very difficult for that one-on-one help," <em>Gulf News</em> quoted Lalchandani as saying.

Kanal said compared to her school days, students today in grade four or five have "tremendous assignments" that often need close help by parents, who themselves have to learn new digital skills..