>> 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 amonths.mpact of seducation, 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 globs 1.5 billion hoolids. ut schoo have leto hoschoolinand onli remote learning. for our globs 1.5 billion a highly improvised situation! but education generally has long been a pressing global issue. 264 million childrenorldwide buhave no access to it at all. longand 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 cents 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 y. 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 willearn much is 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 hard t by the coronaviru 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 determid 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 tskirts delhi, onam andother e beneath this overpass on the meeting for lessons in reading, writing and arithmetic. a school on a building site. the din is deafening. obviously this isn't a suitablh

state schos closed becausefte. the coronavirus pandemic, the ds have nother oion. >> that's why i come here.fte. i come twice a day so i can the keep uwith my studies. we have english in the morning and math and science in the afternoon. it means i can keep up with my claspoint pass my exams.ome >> 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 volunteers 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. they come from poor families, their parents are illiterate. 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 workn the fields, harvesting oa. her ther has bn 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 vegetable to the market. >> i've always worked. i never went to school. it wn't an option for me. >> the kumaris have six children, who all need to lookedfter anded until they lee 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 wouldave marrd her offbut . by. 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 theamily, the more dely entrenched 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 nonexistentf you ok at the divide of

inequali. >> t most impoant challee we a facinis the lack of technology, the smart devices. there is a huge gap between the half and have nots. the childrenho are notaving the intern conctivity orthe smae definitelyacking in this virtual environmt. >> in india, education is a privilege not everyone can ford. r middle-css family n afford it. her classes are now online. noroblem for a student with a liable internet coection at home. private scol in india cost 1000 eurozone --uros year. 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

internet.i think oft 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 thekeptheir distae, they wouldn't hear the teacher abovchans.noise. that how much an education tters to them. but ifhey miss ahole yeareof e can catch up. 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 and ve a better fe. want to ke something of

>> poonam would like to be a mteacher 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 so local trations, 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 it,eavy equipnt. th are often armedand 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 ecogically derse couny. no wonder then that australia's national parks attract millions of touris 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 othis cour. en he wayoung, he 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 toilter watethrough leathebag. >> i miss the bush. there's a real connection that you have with the bu. evything jt feels tter in ere. theity. is articial and discnected from everything. this is reconnecting, you know. >> h 13-year-o son joseph is n quite so enthusiastic about the course. he came along to please his father. he says heould rathebe at home plang online video games with his friends, especially fortte. that's theorld of onne really le being ab tods. ha o with myates even thou there'shis covid thing. it with my mates, play games, progress through the game and

doing it all together. >> this ree-day cose is ing heldear sydney. rvival traing is popar ese daysn austraa.ther. it w the pandec that prompted simone grah to sign up. seeing people storm the supermarkets to buy toilet. per seher 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 father hasn't given up hope

>> i wanted him to, even if everyone else around him is panickinand carrng on, i want , >> it's wintertime in australia, so it gets darkvai early. supper tonight is ngaroo mea and vegetables. joseph is impervious to the romantic charms of campfires and starlit skies in the wild. >> a warbed. of. i'm gog to dreamf a warm bed and, ion't know,omeream ravioli. i rlly likeavioli. like lot. sleeping bags and bivouacs. they had to keep feeding their

pretty wcked, not that he. joseg would say so. >> iwas pretty good.it wasnjoy. i didn't we up oncwhich wa a ni change. but yeahwent prettwell. wasnjoy. >> it's thlast daynd timefor . but yeahwent prettwell. wasnjoy. >> so you're going to boil a liter of water, u have to get it off to the rolling boil. set your shelter up, g the navigation. you're going to have 20 minutes too that. you have ideally 2minutes to >> as the course draws ta cclos joseph stts to warmo the task the faer and soneam comple their assignments in time. >> it's good.

>> the sun is directly in their eyes. >> he's not sweatings muchs i am >> i'm more spry than you are. >> gordois pleased josephs glad he me along. >> i just kept going and i >> i'm mlistened to it.ou are. and although i didn't take notes because i'm bit of a silly gger, yeah, it's great. all the stuff he's taught is and althovaluab stuff.take it not likyou're nevert of a going to use this. in case of emergency, you've got a knife, you've got a ferr rod and a tarp and you can do a bunch. >>he finalxercise -- how to t people know you are there en you a lost. ree days opractical >traini in how to survive in the wild -- but also three days of personal growth and reflection. >> keep going. want to .

>> 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! ♪