An elementary school in Iwaizumi Town, Iwate Prefecture, which has a history of 147 years since its founding, has decided to merge with another school due to the declining birthrate, and graduates and local people have said goodbye to learning and learning filled with memories.
The closing ceremony was held at Anke Elementary School in Iwaizumi Town, which was founded in Meiji 9.
It has one of the oldest elementary schools in Iwate Prefecture, but this year the total number of children in Iwate Prefecture is three in the sixth and fifth grades, and the number of students continues to decrease due to the declining birthrate, and it has been decided to integrate with an elementary school about 6 kilometers away from the new fiscal year.
Approximately 5 people, including alumni and local residents, attended the closing ceremony, and Principal Kazuyuki Yamamoto said, "Although the curtain will come down on our 3-year history, the friendship between the children and the people of the community will remain unfading."
In addition, Ms. Sawami Tanaba (17), a graduate of Showa 93, looked back on her time at the school and shared her thoughts on the school, saying, "At that time, the war was active and I could not study satisfactorily, but even so, I graduated from school and have been doing well so far."
Next, the students and graduates performed the Soran Bushi that has been passed down through the generations of the school, and at the end, all the attendees sang the school song and said goodbye to learning.
Yume Kawaguchi, a sixth-year student who was the last graduate, said, "I am sad that the school full of memories will be gone, but I think it will always be in my heart."