Difficulty: Summiteer (Level 3)
Chryssa Ntalaka’s classroom has become an object lesson in subtraction.
The sole teacher in the last school on the peaceful Greek island of Kalamos has a shorter list of students every autumn. This year, there are just two.
Last month, the sixth graders sat at Ntalaka’s table beneath the whiteboard, in front of rows of unused desks and benches.
When they head to middle school on Greece’s mainland next year, her school will be closed.
Toys and picture books still sit on shelves in the nearby kindergarten, which closed three years ago.
Falling enrolment across Greece this year prompted authorities to close 75 schools and to suspend or extend suspensions at over 400 others.
It is a situation playing out across Europe and beyond. The region has 16 of the world’s top 20 oldest nations, particularly in southern Europe, according to the independent World Population Review.
