Only 19 children attend the primary school in Várzea de Abrunhais, a village perched on a forested hillside in northern Portugal, whose ageing population, depleted by emigration and rural flight, cultivate orchards and vineyards.
In September, a bus will ferry the children eight kilometres to a new school for 200 in the town of Lamego, leaving behind their whitewashed classrooms under a modernisation programme that has already seen 2,500 schools with fewer than 20 pupils closed. A further 900 closures are planned.
