A lack of pupils at a school in Nitting-Voyer-Hermelange, north-east France, has prompted the pupils' parents to a previously unheard-of solution to avoid closing a class, by enrolling four sheep. The initiative, formalized with a card with the animals' names and surnames, represents a provocation against French law, which requires the closure of all school classes if a minimum number of pupils is not reached. The registered sheep breeder is also the parent of several children at the institute near Sarrebourg.
The pupil roll at the Nitting-Voyer-Hermelange union school, made up of five classes, remained at 94, against the minimum limit of 98 pupils set by the French Ministry of Education. As parents report to local media, protests against "this absurd law have achieved nothing. Therefore we have decided to respond with an equally absurd decision."
In addition to the intention of protest and provocation, the students' parents are faced with full compliance with bureaucratic rules. The registration form for each sheep contains the record of both parents, the address of residence and the date of birth. The municipality then forwarded the files of John Deere, Valériane Deschamps, Phil Tondus and Marguerite Duprès to National Education. The four sheep were then welcomed to the school with welcome signs from their classmates, complete with "comfortable" accommodation in an enclosure outside the institute.