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Siberian student scales birch tree for internet access as classes move online

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Alexey Malgavko, Reuters

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2020/reuters/11/17/20201117-birch-tree-rtr.jpg?ext=.jpg"/><figcaption>Alexei Dudoladov, student and popular blogger, is seen on a birch tree for better cellular network coverage in his remote Siberian village of Stankevichi, Russia November 13, 2020. Picture taken November 13, 2020. <em>Alexey Malgavko, Reuters</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>STANKEVICHI, Russia - Russian student Alexei Dudoladov has been forced to go to great lengths - or rather great heights - to attend classes online, having to climb a birch tree in his remote Siberian village every time he needs an internet connection.</p><p>The 21-year-old, a popular blogger and a student at the Omsk Institute of Water Transport, located 2,225 kilometers (1,383 miles) east of Moscow, has got the authorities&#x27; attention by pleading for better internet coverage from the top of a snow-covered birch tree.</p><p>In his plea - viewed 1.9 million times on TikTok and more than 56,000 times on Instagram since last week - Dudoladov tells regional governor Alexander Burkov that his home internet is not strong enough to connect to his online classes and that he has been forced to come up with a creative solution.</p><p>&quot;I need to go into the forest 300 meters from the village and climb a birch tree that is eight-meters high... and I get on Zoom to speak to professors and prove that I am not skipping class for no reason,&quot; he said.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/APByplbr_vY?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><p>Authorities in several Russian regions, including Moscow, have moved university students to online classes to counter a surge in coronavirus cases.</p><p>Around 80% of Russians regularly use the internet, but coverage is some remote regions can be patchy or non-existent.</p><p>The Omsk region&#x27;s education ministry told RBC business daily it was preparing an individualized study plan for Dudoladov so he could study in Stankevichi, a village 170 kilometres northwest of the regional capital.</p><p>Dudoladov said he wasn&#x27;t pleased with the authorities&#x27; reaction and that he had been told by officials to try and catch an internet connection by the highway.</p><p>&quot;I was put on an individual study plan, but do they (authorities) not care about other students from other universities,&quot; he wrote in an Instagram post on Monday.</p><p>&quot;Why can people from the city use the internet in their apartments while villagers can only do so from highways, rooftops and trees!&quot; <strong>(Additional reporting by Nadezhda Tsydenova; Writing by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Editing by Gareth Jones)</strong></p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NWVXlrowY9s?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

<p>STANKEVICHI, Russia - Russian student Alexei Dudoladov has been forced to go to great lengths - or rather great heights - to attend classes online, having to climb a birch tree in his remote Siberian village every time he needs an internet connection.</p>

STANKEVICHI, Russia - Russian student Alexei Dudoladov has been forced to go to great lengths - or rather great heights - to attend classes online, having to climb a birch tree in his remote Siberian village every time he needs an internet connection.

Siberian student scales birch tree for internet access as classes move online

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Siberian student scales birch tree for internet access as classes move online

Alexey Malgavko,

Reuters

Published November 17, 2020 03:35 PM PHT

Read More:

blogger

distance learning

internet

siberia

russia

ANC

Alexei Dudoladov

moscow

TikTok

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