A new report has found thousands of children experience delayed development, bullying and anxiety as a result of missing school due to serious illness.
There are some education programs underway to help bridge the gap, but they are limited, and run without government support.
Ten-year-old Sid Bezwada was diagnosed with Leukaemia in February and he’s been out of school for eight months, but not out of touch.
That's thanks to the Back on Track program run by Westmead Children's hospital in Sydney which provides educational support to cancer patients so that they can remotely attend lessons with their classmates, and maintain their schoolwork during treatment.
Sid said the program has made his chemotherapy much more bearable.
"I get to keep up with my class and I guess you're not getting bored because you're coming in every day to do some work so you're not just sitting around mindlessly gazing up into space," he told SBS.
Sid's mother, Minnie Puttaya said she has seen her son's confidence grow during the classes.
"He has been doing his work and enjoying himself and it's that normality that you're able to maintain in the midst of these rather unusual circumstances," she said.
Programs like the one Sid is doing are very rare, with only a handful operating in Australia.
That's because they receive no government funding.
A new report estimates around 60-thousand children a year miss school as a result of a serious illness.
The report found negative impacts on the student include delayed development, academic underachievement, behavioural problems, increased anxiety and bullying.
Co-Founder of educational advocacy group, Missing School Inc, Megan Gilmour said students with severe, long-term medical conditions are currently being neglected by state and federal governments.
"Our governments need to properly meet the academic, social and emotional needs of seriously sick and injured kids who are missing school. This is about saving hearts and minds, not just bodies," she said.
Dr Belinda Barton is the department head of the Children's Hospital Education Research Institute at the Westmead Children's Hospital.
She said without educational support, many students struggle to reintegrate into school.
"It's frightening for them to go back to school if they've missed out for two years, there's a whole new network of friends."
Sid said he hopes other children will get the same support he has.
"If other kids are away from school for two years or one year, it can have a major impact on their schooling and they could fall behind, so it's important for them to keep up."
