Our Story
Teach the Need started when a group of high school friends decided to volunteer at their local library in Toronto, Ontario. After realizing how long a student had to wait to get a tutor and the socioeconomic obstacles with in-person tutoring, Teach the Need was started in 2017.
Using a virtual approach, the organization was able to find great success as busy parents no longer had to drive their children to a physical location for tutoring, and students could be taught anywhere and anytime. Teach the Need became even more important during the COVID-19 pandemic, where its virtual format upholds social distancing practices while maintaining education quality.
Teach the Need has since expanded to a group of committed volunteers and an executive team. The founder, Sunny Cui, who had previously owned a tutoring business himself, noticed his company's rates were increasingly pricing out students from certain backgrounds. He saw the disparity between education and socioeconomic level grow firsthand. With the invaluable aid of other high school and university students, Teach the Need is committed to the goal of making education free to as many people as possible.
What We Do
Teach the Need is a non-profit with the goal of reducing education inequality by making tutoring more accessible. We offer free 1-on-1 and group tutoring virtually to students who have exhausted their available education resources. We operate on a first-come-first-serve basis, and students must sign up in order to be matched with a tutor. Tutoring sessions last between 30-60 minutes. Each student is matched with a tutor, and each tutor is responsible for a group of 2-5 students.
What People Say
"Teach the Need is such an amazing resource to get free tutor help on homework or assignments. They're very smart and assist outside of school such as exposing me to job opportunities in my area that I didn't know existed."
- Melissa C., Grade 11 student from Scarborough, Ontario
"The organization and its members have been very helpful in post-secondary planning. They showed me the pre-requisites that I still needed and helped me enroll in summer schools in my area so that I had all the courses."
- Parth T., Grade 12 student from Brampton, Ontario
"I was introduced to Teach the Need through my son's school as an alternative tutoring resource. The tutor we had was professional every step of the way. I know my son was able to pass math and graduate high school because of [the tutor]'s help. Thank you!"
- Chris B., Parent of Grade 9 student from North York, Ontario
"I'll definitely recommend Teach the Need to my friends. The Slack was super useful with all the people I got to meet, especially when the pandemic hit and you couldn't see your friends at school."