Online courses replace kindergarten for Ukrainian preschoolers

Sharing a pilates mat, brother and sister Mykhailo and Maria Bondarenko practice basic yoga move at home, following the instructions of a trainer via laptop.

They are on a course run by Education Hub and aimed at Ukrainian children aged seven or younger, now under lockdown with their parents following the closure of all schools as part of measures to contain the coronavirus outbreak. "We wanted to create a project which would help parents to get a bit of free time for housekeeping or work as many people moved to remote work," the Kyiv-based organization's director Mariya Boguslav told Reuters.

"It is very hard to work with little troublemakers of 4-6 years old around." As well as yoga, it's Online Kindergarten' series offers English and drawing lessons, and courses on developing memory, imagination, and concentration.

New webcasts - including some featuring showbiz stars - are posted every day and the site attracts up to 30,000 visitors daily. Boguslav said around 100,000 people registered in the first hours after the initiative launched. Imposed on March 16, Ukraine's lockdown is currently due to end on May 11. 

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