Teacher Xie Daoyu gives a lesson to his only student, Wang Haixiang, in the classroom at the Sanhe Primary School in Bailong town, East China's Anhui Province, on August 31, 2014.

Teachers Xie Daoyu (left) and Fei Ruizhong pose with their only student, Wang Haixiang, on August 31, 2014.

Teacher Xie Daoyu directs his only student Wang Haixiang to learn the Chinese phonetic alphabet in the classroom on August 31, 2014.

Xie Daoyu (left) and Fei Ruizhong prepare lessons in their office on August 31, 2014.

Xie Daoyu shows a group photo of pupils and teachers taken in April 2003 next to his only student, Wang Haixiang, on August 31, 2014. Photo: IC

A school with only two teachers and one student started classes on August 31, 2014, the first day of what will presumably a very lonely academic year, in East China's Anhui Province.

Wang Haixiang is the one and only student at the Sanhe Primary School in Bailong town, Feidong county. Xie Daoyu, a 48-year-old teacher, has been teaching in the school for over 20 years, which was built in the early 1950s.

There used to be more than 200 students in the school in the 1990s and the peak saw nearly 300, said Xie.

"We used to open a branch school during the peak times, in order to take care of the younger students," Xie said.

But since 2000, many local parents, who moved for work, have taken their children to other cities and the school intake has been declining.

Li Guojun, the headmaster of another public school of Feidong county, said the acceleration of urbanization and the increasing numbers of private schools are the main reasons for the decline in the number of students.

With more and more migrant workers entering the cities, children are being taken away from small communities, while private schools which offer accommodation are becoming more common, and the preferred choice for parents.

"Parents who cannot take care of their children prefer to send their sons and daughters to boarding schools," Li said.

Global Times