Apollona, a Primary School on the Cycladic island of Naxos began the new school year yesterday, September 11, with a single student.
The school, which is located in a village on Naxos’ northeastern coast about 36km from the island’s capital Hora, had four students in 2015, ended up with two last year and only one this year.
However, locals refuse to close the school and even with one student yesterday, the bell rang and the local priest gave his blessing to both the teacher and his single pupil before the first class began.
Young Ephraimina, who is the one and only student at Apollona for 2019-2020, will attend her school lessons in a tutorial style format for the next 12 months.
The problem in mountainous Naxos is that the number of children is declining each year and it is unknown as to how long teachers will continue to work under these conditions.
