Highest school ever
Who
Pumajiangtangxiang Primary School
What
5,022 metre(s)
Where
China (Pumajiangtangxiang)
When

The highest school ever was a small residential primary school located at an altitude of around 5,022 m (16,476 ft) in Pumajiangtangxiang (aka Phumachangtang) Township, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. The school operated from 1986 until August 2017, when it was closed and its students moved to a new school in the town of Nagarze (aka Langkazi or Nangartse) some 500 m (1,640 ft) closer to sea level.


At the time of its closing, the school had around 100 students, drawn from the nomadic communities that graze their herds on the high grasslands of the Tibetan Plateau. It took its name from the seasonal settlement located nearby, which grows to a population of around 1,000 people at certain times of the year. The school's 6 teachers had to endure bitterly cold winters, a chronic lack of supplies and air so thin that everyone – students and teachers alike – had trouble concentrating on anything.

According to Chinese media coverage of the school's relocation, the old site is going to be refurbished and made into a kindergarden, so it will remain in educational use.