The little girl gets so depressed that her mother has to sit beside her throughout the school day just to stop her daughter from crying.

Mary’s teacher, Rouzan Ghazaryan, says that the girl has yet to get over the fact that she has no classmates to befriend and play with.

Barekamavan is located in Armenia’s north-eastern province of Tavoush. The school goes up to the twelfth grade and has thirty pupils in all.

Principal Astghik Azatyan has decided to combine the first and third grade classes into one for purposes of economy. The choice of the third grade was because Mary’s sister Nare is in that class.

Rouzan Ghazaryan has been teaching at the school for the past ten years. She confesses that this the first time when there has been only one pupil in the first grade.

When I ask Mary how she feels about going to school for the first time, the little girl looks down at the floor and answers that she likes playing with the other kids.

“When I grow up, I want to become a dancer,” she says, adding that likes Armenian traditional dances. Unfortunately, the school doesn’t have a dance class for Mary to attend.

In fact, there is little in the way of cultural or entertainment facilities in the village. The school is the most active place of all.

Mrs. Ghazaryan says that theater and music groups used to visit Barekamavan and neighboring villages and stage performances, but no longer. She says it’s a pity that the children really have no opportunity view such cultural performances other than by watching TV.

This year, there are two boys in the graduating class. Two out of four pupils, both girls, remain in the eleventh grade. Amalya wants to become a translator and Voskehatsays she has hopes of becoming a mathematics teacher.

The girls say that while village life is tough, they love Barekamavan and are said to see it slowly emptying out.

“Most are leaving the village because there is no work. But those that do leave do so with a heavy heart,” says Voskehat. “If there were jobs and the village wasn’t as empty as it is, I’d probably stay as well.”