A Russian village of fewer than 300 people has one school, which has too few students to stay open. The school and an orphanage have struck a deal, in which local residents have started to adopt children from a neighboring hamlet.

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While the school in the Khotochu village in Sakha Republic has been repeatedly threatened with closure, local families embarked on the unusual initiative, aimed at both keeping the school running and giving the orphaned children a new home.

Under the agreement the school has with the orphanage in the hamlet of Mokhsogollokh, the locals take three to four children in their families at a time. “Now, the school has more students, and more importantly orphans have found loving families,” the head of the local administration, Sergey Prokopyev said.

The scheme was the brainchild of the school’s principal Rimma Sleptsova, who herself has 12 children, both her own and adopted. While the principal said such collaboration between a school and a children’s home is unique, she stressed that adoption is not a self-interested attempt to save her school.

“They called me from the education department and asked why I’m so shy. I told them ‘don’t make us heroes, there are a lot of adoptive families in our area,’” Sleptsova told a local news outlet.

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