Santa Students practice dancing during the Charles W. Howard Santa Claus School workshop on October 16, 2008 in Midland, Michigan. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

Hunched at his desk and staring intently at the blackboard, Hu Yang looks like any other industrious schoolboy. But this ordinary eight-year-old finds himself in a unique position. He is the only pupil to attend his elementary school in, Fujian Province, China.

An Indian farmer from Tamil Nadu state wearing a necklace of human skulls representing suicides by agricultural workers takes part in a protest with other farmers in New Delhi on March 15, 2017. Tamil Nadu state farmers protested to demand a profitable price for their agricultral products, and called for the formation of management committee for solving Cauvery river water disputes. More than 200 farmers have committed suicide in Tamil Nadu in recent months following crop failure due to poor rainfall and inadequate water for irrigation. (Photo by Prakash Singh/AFP Photo)

Indian boy Hassan Malik works in a leather shoe factory at Topsia in Calcutta, eastern India, 19 November 2013. The leather industry occupies an important place in the Indian economy. It is an employment intensive sector with a vast potential for growth and exports but also a pollution intensive industry that relies on cheap labor. One of the major production centers for leather and leather products is located in Calcutta, West Bengal. Hundreds of tanneries are operated in the city’s Tiljala, Topsia and Tangra districts. They are mostly run by local families living and working under poor conditions. (Photo by Piyal Adhikary/EPA)

Cadets from the National Cadet Corps (NCC) celebrate after being awarded the first position in the best marching trophy competition during the Republic Day celebrations in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh January 26, 2015. (Photo by Ajay Verma/Reuters)

Saudi children of al-Fefi family walk up the stairs as they make their way to their schools through Fifa Mountain, in Jazan, south of Saudi Arabia, December 15, 2016. (Photo by Mohamed Al Hwaity/Reuters)

Luke Personius, 12, waits for a wave as he surfs before school at sunrise in Hermosa Beach, California April 2, 2015. The group of friends surf at sunrise most mornings, then shower outside and walk to school. (Photo by Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

Schoolchildren ride on a makeshift raft to attend the opening of classes at a remote Casili Elementary School in Montalban, Rizal northeast of Manila, Philippines June 13, 2016. (Photo by Erik De Castro/Reuters)