Prompt: some young people are leaving the countryside to live in cities and towns, leaving only old people in the countryside. Ċ Do you think this is a positive or a negative development?

The migration of the younger generation to urban areas is leaving many rural locations populated predominantly by the elderly. I would argue that the loss of young people from the rural landscape has problematic consequences. The forthcoming paragraphs will highlight the most serious reasons which are the depletion of the rural workforce and the loss of local education facilities. Ċ To begin with, when 18-30-year-olds move to towns and cities in search of new opportunities, they leave behind an ageing population to do all work. Most employment in the countryside involves manual labour. It can be difficult for the older community to manage as it is far more suited to fit and healthy young adults.For instance, a government survey carried out over the past decade, reveals that the number of family farms being sold off to developers is increasing year by year. The main reason given for this is that the parents can no longer manage to do all the hard work themselves and their sons and daughters have moved to urban space to seek new opportunities. Ċ Furthermore, in many rural areas, there is no longer a village school for the local children to attend. With fewer young families living on the farms and in the villages, there are not enough kids to keep the local primary schools open. Now only a handful of them still exists; however, most have been converted into houses or holiday cottages. As a result, it is a big loss to rural communities. For example, a survey conducted by the government shows that a decade ago, hundreds of educational institutes were opened for villages, yet currently only fifteen per cent of institutes are functional. Ċ To conclude, the significant rise in the average age of public living in the rural fields has resulted in a lack of suitable crowd to fill the workforce and the closure of the majority of village schools, causing hardship to local communities.