Fun facts about schools around the world.

There are so many countries in the World, that different nations created their own traditions and cultures, which vary widely. The same we can say about education. Some of the amazing facts in the educational system of different countries are quite logical and seem to be absolutely natural. But there are some other facts that are so unbelievable that we start to look for the roots of their origin! Every country has its own system of traditions, habits, and mentality.

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young

Henry Ford

The Shishi High School located in Chengdu, China is the world’s oldest school

Established in 194 AD, earning the title of being the world’s oldest school comes with no surprise. The first Chinese public school to ever exist, the school became a modern school in 1902. Despite its age, the school is up-to-date with quality equipment and supplies and provides modern education.

A school in the Philippines is made entirely of recycled pop bottles.

The school named Bottle School is one of its kind in Asia. It took about 9,000 bottles and dozens of volunteers to build the structure. Each bottle was filled with sand, water and straw to keep them sturdy. Then, a cement-like substance was used to hold the bottles in place as they were stacked on top of each other to create walls

The largest school in the world in terms of number of students is the City Montessori School in Lucknow, India.

The City Montessori School (CMS) in India enters the 2019 Guinness Book of World Records for its number of pupils attending the school. There are currently more than 56,000 students attending the school on a daily basis. In Lucknow city alone, there are 18 CMS campuses with over 4,500 staff across the city.

Back in 2014, there was an elementary school in Turin, Italy that only had one teacher and one student.

This gives the school the reputation of being the smallest school in the world. The only student of the school admitted to being lonely and had to imagine there were other students in the classroom. Officials decided to keep it open as long as there is at least one pupil at the school.

In Russia, children always start school on ‘Knowledge Day’ (September 1) even if it’s a weekend or a holiday.(reminds you of something doesn’t it ..huh – HOGWARTS!!)

Russian children always start school on September 1st even if it’s a holiday, or the weekend. This is referred as Knowledge Day and marks both the first day of school and the first day of autumn. Most kids bring a change of shoes to school. Elementary school through high school are usually in the same building.

The children in the Netherlands start school on their fourth birthday so there’s always someone new in class.

Dutch children go to school on their fourth birthday. This results in some chaos as new kids are added to the class throughout the year during the first year (called groep 1 or kleuterklas). The kids get to play and learn social skills and only start “real school” when they’re 6 (groep 3). However, school is not compulsory until the kids are 5 years old.

Most disciplined students come from Japan.

Japanese kids are expected to go to school by themselves and they also have to clean the classroom. There is no canteen; children are expected to bring packed lunches to school. They’re often very beautifully arranged into so called bento boxes. It is customary for the grandparents to buy the school bag called randoseru.

Extravagent lunches in france.

French kids are served a 3-course meal for lunch. The French education system has been made famous by Karen le Billon in her book (French Kids Eat Everything) that described the French approach to eating (did you know that schools hire nutritionists and special chefs to cook for the kids?) On the other side, the system is very rigid and strict. During such lessons in the canteen, schoolchildren are given knowledge of the origin of various foods and etiquette during meals.

Lunch with family during school in Switzerland.

Parents of kids in Swiss schools have to pick them up for lunch. The children get a lunch break between 12 and 2pm and that’s when they get home to have lunch. As mothers enter the workforce in bigger and bigger numbers, a special Mittagstisch (literally lunch table) is set up for the kids with working parents.

Schools on boat in Bangladesh.

Features of the climatic zone in which Bangladesh is located, forced the local government to make schools floating. Due to the fact that from July to October in the country there are constant rains, roads eroding, and the rivers rise, the students could not get to their place of study. Therefore, now more than 100 schools in Bangladesh are located on the most genuine boats. But this does not affect the quality of education. Schools are equipped with solar panels, they have an Internet connection and even their own library.

In a remote area of Colombia, kids have to travel to school on a zip-line.

It turns out the steel wires are the only form of transportation for those living in an isolated valley called Los Pinos. Very young kids are not allowed to use the zip-line alone. So they travel along the cable with their parents or an older sibling. If the kids did not travel this way, they would have to walk through the rainforest and it would take two hours to get to school.

A school in Germany has been built to look like a giant white cat.

The design is complete with whiskers and circular windows for eyes. When students arrive at the school, they enter the building through the mouth of the cat. Once inside, it is just like any other school. But there is at least one more purr-fect feature that students can enjoy: the cat’s tail found at the back of the building doubles as a slide!

South Korean students can be in school for up to 16 hours a day.

In South Korea, a standard day of school lasts from 8 AM until 4 PM, which is still pretty long compared to most countries. However, many students also attend a private school in the evening hours from 6 PM to 9 PM for intensive revision.

In Brooklyn, there’s a school with no grades, tests, or homework.

All kids wish they could attend a school without tests or homework. Well, in Brooklyn, they can! The Brooklyn free school inspired by similar progressive schools from the 1960s, don’t have tests, grades, or homework. Classes are also non-compulsory. Students even participate in the school’s governance with their votes counting equal to staff.

Summer vacations in Chile start from mid-December and end in early March.

While schools in the United States normally start summer vacation between May and June, Chile begins their summer holiday in December with three whole months away from school!

France has the shortest school year from August to June and also the longest school day.

A total school year in France does not exceed 36 weeks while other countries may go over 40 weeks. French children go to school four days a week with off days on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. They have about two hours each day for lunch and their school day begins around 8:30 a.m. and ends at 4:30 p.m.