French School Enrolls Sheep As Pupils To “Save Class”

More than a dozen sheep have been “registered” at a French primary school as pupils as it was feared that some classes might be closed due to lack of students, Xinhua, a Chinese news agency reports.

Some 50 sheep were brought to the school by a local farmer earlier this month and fifteen of them were “officially” signed up after showing their birth certificates.

Their names, such as “Baa-bete” and “Saute-Mouton,” were put on the register, the Independent reported.

The move came after the school in Crets en Belledonne, a village of fewer than 4,000 people at the foot of the French Alps, was informed that one of its 11 classes would be shut down, after pupil numbers dropped from 266 to 261.

Local officials have recognized the registry of the sheep, according to the report.

“National education is unfortunately only numbers. And so now, with this surge in numbers, we are good,” Gaelle Laval, one of the parents behind the initiative, told Le Parisien newspaper.

“We can go see the director of academy to assert our rights and save our class.”