Australia helps keep schooling on course

Remote learning isn't new for Sofiia Yakymenko. During the Covid pandemic, shut downs, computer screens and distance learning became normal. But the Ukrainian student wasn't used to evenings on Zoom with teachers in the far-flung country of Australia, while rockets flew by her window

- Caitlin Cassidy

Education was an early casualty of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with 60% of children leaving their homes and schools. Amid shuttered classrooms, parents and teachers sought unlikely partners on the other side of the world - including the city of Melbourne.

Monash University took on a few hundred volunteer teachers to help young people who risked drastically falling behind in their education. About 70,000 children displaced from schools in Ukraine have attended its primary and secondary classes from bomb shelters and bedrooms.