The Wider Image: Last students graduate: School closures spread in

Eita Sato, 15, and Aoi Hoshi, 15, the only two students at Yumoto Junior High School, have their last school lunch with their teachers before their graduation and the institution’s closing ceremony, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, March 9, 2023. Eita and Aoi, who have been together since three, are the last two graduates of Yumoto Junior High, a public school established in 1947 that in its prosperous years sent out more than 50 graduates, but with only a few enrolments expected in the coming years, the village decided to close the school for good. “We heard rumours about the school closure in the second year, but I didn’t really think it would happen. I was shocked when I heard the news,” Eita said. REUTERS/Issei Kato