[StupidOne]

In my country (Croatia), post WW2 schools in rural areas were one man band. You had professor / teacher and he was in charge about anything and everything in the school. Also, note that some (if not majority) of kids were malnourished, so an older child could look like "properly developed" much younger kid.

Those schools existed for two reasons: a) to teach kids how to read and write and some very basic math b) find ones with potential and connect them with benefactor to sponsor theirs more advanced education