>> welcome to global 3000! the sharr mountains in north macedonia boast stunning landscapes. but this natural paradise is under threat. in india, we visit school children determined to learn during the pandemic, even outdoors, in less than ideal conditions. and in mexico, education currently means sitting in front of a tv. we look at the impact of schools staying closed for months. education, shared learning, and

the opportunity to engage with their peers. barely anything is more important for children. but the coronavirus pandemic has turned things upside down for our obe's 1.billio scho kids. ut schoo have leto hoschoolinand onli remote for our obe'learning.o a highly improvised situation! but education generally has long been a pressing global issu 26million ildr worldwi have no access to it at all. and the pandemic has made things much worse. currently, around 463 millio children are not receiving any form of education -- neither in the classroom nor at home. better to have a bit of school than none at all. that's the motto of the mexican governme. its rrent educion programme ceres around something found in most living rooms. >> a kitchen for a classroom; and instead of pen and paper, a

remote control. it's a way of learning that calls for a lot discipline. >> it feels weird but i'll do my best. >> between 4:00 in the afternoon and 7:00 in the evening, all middle school students in mexico watch classes on tv. topics include the big bang and galileo. >> they said galileo went to prison, but i don't get why. >> 11-year-old kristopher's questions will remain unanswered. the government-funded program broadcasts a new class every day. infection levels in the country are still high and children may not yet return to the classroom. kristopher doesn't want to get the virus in case he infects his grandmother. next up is music. followed by math.

kristopher is glad when his mother comes home from work earlier than usual. >> have you got a class? >> yes, but i only understand half of it. >> hilda is a single mother. she's supposed to work the whole day but she wants to be there to help her son get used to this new kind of learning. >> if they don't pay attention in school, then they really aren't going to concentrate when they're left on their own with the tv and their schoolbooks. >> private schools in mexico, meanwhile, are focusing on online classrooms. for spanish class, isabella is collecting objects and will write a story about them. she only gets to see her classmates on a screen, but at least she sees them. >> at first i thought it would be terrible, but it isn't.

it's new. it's new. but i'd still prefer actual school. >> in english there's a surprise test in store. she gets to talk to her teachers, and her parents are working at home so they're on hand to help too. for 10-year-old isabella, online learning is going well. >> high five, guys! >> many in mexico fear that the pandemic will exacerbate the country's problem with social inequality. >> there's a growing imbalance. i'm worried about our country. education is what society needs in order to make progress. >> the mexican government is pinning its hopes on the school broadcasts -- and given that 16 million households have no internet connection, the tv classes are the best solution.

simply allowing millions of children to miss out on school is not an option, experts say. >> ethically speaking, that would be a mistake. >> we would have failed in our educational duty. this is an alternative. it's not perfect. it doesn't reach everyone. we must continue to look for better solutions. other options. >> hilda gabriel is concerned. kristopher hasn't taken any notes at all. at some point the teachers are supposed to email their students questions about what they've learned. the family have borrowed an old ipad from friends. >> to be honest i'm not sure that we wi learn mucthis way. >> instead of returning to the classroom for the new school year, mexico's schoolchildren are watching tv. it's not ideal but it's better than nothing.

♪ >> things are far from ideal for many school kids in india too: and images like these seem like a distant dream right now. india has been harhit by the . government schools have been closed since the lockdown started, affecting almost 250 million primary and secondary-school kids. only older pupils are still receiving partial tuition. for poorer families there's no alternative to analogue education. but some are deterned to make it happen. ♪ >> the sight that greets poonam every morning is typical of today's india. the country is one huge construction site. society is in flux and india is visibly transforming. beneath this overpass on the outskirts delhi, poonam a other lol teenagerare meeting for lessons in reading, writing and arithmetic. a school on a building site. the din is deafening. obviously this isn't a suitabl place r a classrm, but wit

state hools closed becau of the coronavirus pandemic, the kids havno other optn. >> that's why i come here. i come twice a day so i can keepp with my studies. we have english in the morning and math and science in the afternoon. it means i can keep up with my classes anhopefully some point pass my exams. >> naresh pal is a qualified social scientist. he's applied for a job with the government and is waiting to hear back. in the meantime he voluntes as a teacher in the makeshift school. >> these students haven't been able to go to school for four, ve months. it's really hard on them. day labourers, field workers. it's hard enough for them to. get an education at all. and now the pandemic has made

it even more difficult. >> poonam goes home at midday. her parents are hard at rk on the fields, harvestingkra. hemother haseen up since dawn and expects poonam to help out. >> i helped out with the harvest yesterday and today i also have to help. i don't like working in the fields. but my mother says h children have thelp; then the work is done faster. my brother takes the vegetabs to the market. >> i've always worked. i never went to school. itasn't an option for me. >> the kumaris have six children, who all needo be look after a fed untilhey ave home. poonam is 15, and her mother feels it's time she moved out. >> the costs of keeping our fields going are so high.

we barelyave enougho get by. >>we wouldave maied her ofr but wean't affora dowry.gh. no one would take her without one. >> sons can eventually bring in an income. but to poor families, daughters are simply an added expense and there's no point in them getting an education. the poorer t family, the more eply entrehed this way of thinking is. india has a population of near 1.4 billi, and millions live in poverty. only one in five households ve internet access. inany rural eas there n't evenlectricity this digital divide contributes to social inequality. experts warn that now the global pandemic is further jeopardising children's educational opportunities. >> there are laudable efforts in terms of schooling. digital areas, those that have walked to school in the last decade or off the map of learning. the interest for receiving digital is not even patchy. it is simply nonistent if u look at the divide of

>>he most portant chlenge are facing is the lack of technology, the smart devices. there is a huge gap between the half and have nots. the chdren who a not havin the ternet connectivy or the smart devices they are denitely lacking in this virtual vironment. >> in india, education is a privilege not everyone can affo. her ddle-classamily can >> in inafford it.tion is a her classes are now online. problem for a student with a reliable internet nnection at home. a private hool in ina cost 1000. for most people, that's simply unaffordable. >> when i think of the government schools i feel i am so privileged to be in a family that can afford laptops and

teet. i think of the government school children who are not able to attend classes. so that is a lack of this. >> the classes held underneath the bridge on the outskirts of delhi are rlds away om aashs online lsons. so far no one here has come down with the virus, but no one wears masks anthe students are huddled together. if ty ke their disnce, they wouldn't hear the teacher above the noise. so they're taking eir chances. that's how much an edution tters to them. >> if they miss onday, they can catch up. but if themiss a who year schooli, they'll misshe boat completely and won't stand a chance. >> all these young people want is a chance to improve their lot in life by getting an education. now even that modest goal could be denied them. >> i don't want to end up like my parents, working on the field. i want to learn something an have a bettelife. i want tmake something of

myself; want to be ecated. >> poonam would like to be a teacher one day and give other young pele like heelf beer opportunities. for that she's willing to go to a makeshift school under an erpass oa construction site. ♪ >> and now, for global ideas, we head over to e balkans. our reporter, holger trzeczak, travelled to north macedonia before the pandemic and enjoyed me local tditions, as well as some awe-inspiring nature. >> the european green belt is a nature conservation initiative running along the corridor of the former iron curtain which once divided east and west europe. its aim is to protect natural environments around this area. environments like the sharr mountains in north macedonia.

>> it didn't take long to set up a mobile outdoor cinema in the village of vratnitsa. by contrast, efforts to establish a new national park here in north macedonia have been dragging on for decades. vratnitsa lies at the foot of the shar planina mountain range. frosina pandurska is a conservation activist based in the capital skopje. she and her friends came here to screen a short film about shar planina. she wants to win over the people living here to her cause. there are problems to address -- trash is just one of them. quite a few villagers showed up for the screening. pandurska and her colleagues organised it under the auspices of the ngo 'friends of sharr' where they work. they weren't sure local people would in fact be interested. pandurska, who is a journalist, says conservation does not top the list of her country's priorities. but she contends that with enough popular support it should be possible to do more

to protect this beautiful mountainous area. after the screening, the activists and local people talked about their concerns. villagers have been struggling for five years to prevent the construction of a hydropower plant nearby -- they challenged the friends of sharr, asking why they have not been helping them. they said the ngo should engage more with the people who actually live here. there are many villages in the region facing similar problems. shar planina measures 80 kilometers by 30. over the past two decades, threats to this scenic wilderness have been mounting. >> shar planina is the mountain range with the greatest biodiversity in north macedonia. and it must be protected to the highest degree. if it is declared a national

park, it will be accorded the most protection -- even across national borders. >> shar planina lies near what was once the iron curtain. that ribbon of land and some areas nearby have been designated the european green belt by an association of the same name. its mission is to protect the natural landscapes there which had been shielded for decades from major developments such as farming and construction. the association promotes ecotourism. renovating mountain huts and building new ones should entice more hikers to come and explore. the association also seeks to counter illegal logging, which is a serious problem here. the timber mafia has carved this track through the forest without permission. it extends for several kilometers. an suv blocks the path. behind i heavy equment. ey are often arm, and it

would not be wise to go any further with a camera rolling. the conservationists monitor changes in the forest with the help of an app and satellite imagery. jovan bozhinoski is a mountain guide and also active in friends of sharr. he says the timber thieves sometimes fell trees and they just leave them lying around in the forest. shepherds are natural allies of the conservationists, as they have a vital interest in preserving the forests and meadows -- and keeping an eye on illegal logging. the friends of sharr platform emphasizes the importance of "monitoring." nasser xhemaili is a sheep farmer. he used to take visitors on hikes until the pandemic hit. on the terrain up here, four-wheel drive vehicles are of no use.

friends of sharr see great potential in gentle tourism. nasser xhemaili and his brother have five thousand sheep. the ewe's milk cheese they make is famous throughout the region. their entire business depends on the preservation of the natural habitat. >> i would totally welcome a national park in shar planina. that's why i support the initiative. >> nasser xhemaili and his brother inherited the farm from their parents -- and have since expanded its operations. they employ 25 shepherds. during the season, they spend two weeks at a time up in the mountains, living in huts like this. the only source of power here are small solar panels --

enough to light the huts. with a new hydropower plant that would change, a shepherd explains. >> it would be good. then our little villages would finally have electricity. >> these small hydropower plants are promoted as green energy and good for people but in reality they destroy the ecosystem of the rivers. >> the conservationists promote traditional ways of life, but most local people want at least a few modern conveniences. one of the new hydroplants is to be located in this valley. the plan is to construct seventy in shar planina. although work appears to be already underway,frosina pandurska says the one here has not yet been approved. not everybody in the villages of shar planina is concerned about protecting the environment.

and finding an alternative to improvised rubbish dumps. construction of the hydropower plants up in the mountains is well underway. they use so much water that downstream in the valley, the water levels in the river are getting low. parts of the balkans still feel very remote and left behind. but even here, there seem to be more cars. friends of sharr has several members of its team out and about in the area, including vojslav gushevski. >> there is still a lot of work to be done. and that includes explaining the issues to people and telling them about the rules on how to behave in a national park. >> it now looks as if the shar planina national park will finally be established next year. on paper, that is.

but that is at least a start. >> and now from the natural world of the balkans to the wildlife of australia. the land down under is a vast and ologicallyiverse cotry. no wonder then that australia's national parks attract millions of tousts eachear. nothat many austria's 25 million residents prefer to spend their leisure time outside. now the pandemic is encouraging some city-dwellers to become even more acquainted with nature. >> bushcraft -- how to survive in the wild -- that's what mark rnard wantto learn ois cose. when he s young,e worked for a while on a farm in the outback. he wants to regain the sense of freedom he enjoyed back then. the participants are learning

how filter war througa leatr bag. >> i miss the bush. there's a real connection that you ha with the bu. evything jt els bettern ere. theity. is arficial a dionnected from everything. this is reconnecting, you know. his 13-ye-old son joseph isot quite so enthusiastic about the course. he came along to please his father. he says would ratr bt home plang online video games with his friends, especially rtnite. that'she world oonline i really le being ab to. ngut with mates eve though tre'shis covithing. i like being able to hang out with my mates, play games, progress through the game and

>>his three-y course i beinheld near syey.er. survival tining isopularthese. it was t pandemic at up. seeing people storm the supermarkets to buy toilet paper t her thking. the curnt circutances around the world and the need to be self-sufficient and reliant upon myself, should the worst-case scenario ever play out, i realized pretty quickly that i don't have basic skills and foundation that we all once held. >> the instructor gordon dedman tells his students about which wild plants are edible and how they can find their way without a compass or map. these topics have not enthralled joseph. but his p

>> i wanted him to, even if everyone else around him is panickg and caying on, want him to be able to, like, it's wiertime i austlia, so gs darkdprevai early.supperonight ikangarooeat d vegetaes. seph is perviouso the romant charms campfir and arlit sks in the wd. >> a wm bed. that's what m going dream of. m going toream of a rm bed d, i don'tnow, som violi. ieally like ravio. li a lot. >> they have all survived a tingly cold night in their sleeping bags and bivouacs. they had to keep feeding their fires to ward f the chil josephooks like is feelin

pretty wcked, not that he would say so. >> iwas prty good.it wasnjoyab. i didn't we up oncwhich was nice chae. but ye, went prettwell. >> so you're going to boil a liter of wateryou haveo get it off to the rolling boil. set your shelter up,et the navigation. you're going to have 20 minutes to do that. you have idely 20 minutes to mplete thiindividual. >> as the course drawso a cle, joseph arts to wa to the task the ther and s team compte their assignments in time. >> it's good.

>> the sun is directly in their eyes. >> he's not sweati as ch as am. >> i'm more spry than you are. >> gorn is pleas. jose is glad hcame along >> i just kept going and i listened to it. and although i didn't take notes because i'a bit of a silly bugger, yeah, it's great. all the stuff he's tght is valule stuff. it's notike you're never going to use this. in case of emergency, you've got a knife, you've got ferro rod and a tarp and you can do a bunch. >> the fin exercise -- how to let people know you are there when you a lost. ree days opractical >>traing in how to survive in lthe wild -- but also three days of personal growth and reflection. >> keep going.want to get a pi.

>> and that's all from global 3000 this week! do drop us a line and let us know wt you thout. you can reach us at global3000@dw.com. see you next time! ♪

10/23/20 10/23/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! mr. biden: there is not another serious scientist in the world who thinks it will be over soon. pres. trump: we are learning to live with it. mr. biden: come on, we are dying with that. amy: as the u.s. death toll from covid-19 tops 223,000, president trump and former vice president joe biden sparred in the second and final debate of the 2020 campaign over the trump