Village school tries to stay open in Spain’s Valencian Community by offering families a free home to get them to move there

A TINY village in the Valencian Community wants its primary school to stay open and is offering families free accommodation and a guarantee of work if they move there.

172 people live in Zucaina in Castellón Province, which has the bonus of not having had any COVID-19 infections.

The local council published an appeal via social media on Monday that any family with at least two children of primary school age could move to the community and get some major benefits.

A home would be provided, free of charge, along with a job, so long as a commitment is made to send their children to the school.

The new school year started last week but just one girl enrolled, putting the school under a severe threat of closure.

The Valencian Government’s education department has granted Zucaina an extra fortnight to find extra pupils for the school roll.

An Argentinian family had planned to move to the area with three children, but the pandemic meant that they could not come to Spain due to travel restrictions.

Within hours of Zucaina council making their plea, several families had already expressed a strong interest in moving to the rural community.