Last In Class: Russian Village Keeps School Open For Lone Student

Ravil Izhmukhametov, 9, and teacher Uminur Kuchukova, 61, during a ceremony on the first day of the new school year in Sibilyakovo village, in Russia’s Omsk region. Kuchukova has worked at the school for 42 years. She could have retired long ago but continues to teach for the sake of Izhmukhametov, the school's last pupil.

Izhmukhametov during a lesson as relatives look on.
Kuchukova hopes Izhmukhametov will soon feel confident enough to travel to a neighboring village for lessons.

Izhmukhametov during sports class.
Kuchukova told Reuters: "I feel sorry for him. His parents don't want to leave [Sibilyakovo] yet and it's scary to send a little boy like him over the Irtysh [River]. There are such big waves."

Local women crossing the Irtysh River.

Clothes hang to dry in the yard of the Izhmukhametov family house in Sibilyakovo. Like many villages dotted across Russia, Sibilyakovo lost most of its population after the closure of its state-run collective farm following the 1991 collapse of the U.S.S.R.

But village life is not without its small delights. These plump blackberries were collected after a few minutes of foraging by Izhmukhametov.

Ravil eats with his father, Dinar Izhmukhametov, 48. Ravil's parents are farmers but say they don't want their son to stay in the village when he grows up. "Our eldest children live in the city and we're happy about that," said Dinar.

Elmira Izhmukhametov washes her son on the eve of the new school year. When asked what it was like to study alone, the boy says, "I've got nothing to compare it to. But of course I'd like to have friends, so I'm looking forward to going to the main school."

Izhmukhametov plays with his friend Ramil Kuchukov in the village of Sibilyakovo.

Ramil Kuchukov walks out of Sibilyakovo toward school in a larger nearby village. His journey will involve a 30-minute boat ride, followed by 20 minutes on a bus.

Photos of former students at the school in Sibilyakovo. In its heyday in the 1970s, Sibilyakovo’s population was 550. Today, it is just 39.

Ravil Izhmukhametov sits outside his family house. The boy says he has no interest in moving to a big city, but knows that soon he "will have no choice."