New Delhi: Barely after a couple of weeks since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, some universities in western Ukraine resumed online classes on Monday bringing back cheers to the faces of Indian students studying there.
It may be recalled that students somehow safely returned in batches during the last two weeks from war-torn Ukraine.
“We are so relieved…At least, we can keep pace with the syllabus. We are just so thankful to our teachers who are taking classes even during the war,” third-year MBBS student at Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University, Ahtesham Zahid, who is now back home in Uttar Pradesh, was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
Zahid was attending a lecture by Prof Andrii Bazylevych on “Syndrome of Heart Insufficiency”. The previous night, Bazylevych was confined to the basement as sirens blared outside. As many as 14 students joined the online session conducted by Bazylevych on Monday afternoon, reported TIE.
The professor ensured that the students did not waste time discussing the war and quickly got the lecture going with the use of PPTs. Questions were asked to keep students on their toes.
Despite the online classes began, students said their parents are still apprehensive about their future. “We pray that our teachers stay safe, we hope normalcy is restored in Ukraine at the earliest so that we can go back. We miss Ukraine,” another student, Jayesh Sarmalkar told the newspaper.
“We have been divided into small groups of 14-15 students. All 14 joined today because we do not want to miss a single class,” a third student said.
Bazylevych said that online classes resumed at universities in western cities like Lviv and Ternopil on Monday, but several teachers in other cities like Kharkiv could not log in for internet disruptions.
“The situation is worse in cities directly affected by war, where the Internet is not stable. We do not want our students to lose due to temporary changes in our country. But for how long we will be able to conduct online classes is unknown. According to the university rector’s order, we will study this way till the end of the semester,” said the professor.
“Today, some of our students put up screens on Zoom supporting Ukraine. Our Indian students have expressed their understanding and support for Ukraine. Of course, Zoom classes cannot make up for physical classes but that’s how we managed during the pandemic, too,” he added.
Bazylevych resides in Lviv where “an explosion happened two nights ago”. “There were sirens the whole of last night. We were hiding in the basement. I came to the apartment today morning to conduct the class,” he was quoted as saying by TIE.
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