School Cat Who Spent All Year 'Sleeping During Class' Gets To Graduate

Attending school every day may feel like a burden to some, but not for this cat in Colombia, who even managed to graduate with his fellow classmates.

In an adorable viral video, Yanin Eraso, 28, showed her social media followers the latest member of her mom's school class: Mono the cat. When Mono turned up at the school 18 months ago, he loved the attention he got from the five-year-olds, and since then they have "always seen him as another classmate."

Eraso's mom, Maribel Espinosa Henado, who teaches at Institución Educativa San Bernardo in Quindio, Colombia, was delighted by her newest member of the class. After making a habit of showing up to the school every morning, Mono now gets treated to breakfast with the teachers and even sleeps inside the students' desks.

Eraso told Newsweek: "Mono had a family that left him on the street all day, so one day he started going to the school and he found food and love, so he chose to stay. He loves being with the children, and he always spends the school day sleeping in their desks.

"He attends class every day, when the teacher arrives at 7 a.m. he is already waiting. He gets in the classroom, has breakfast and then he leaves. Then he will come back later at 8 a.m. when all the children have arrived, and then he stays all day."

While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that animals in the classroom can provide entertainment and aid in a child's education, they do urge caution about germs. Children under five are more likely to get sick from the germs that animals can carry, so the CDC encourages teachers to be wary of the risks that come with a class pet.

Thankfully for Mono, all that napping and eating has really paid off because he was recently able to graduate with the rest of his class. Eraso shared the footage of his celebratory moment on TikTok (@yanineraso), and it's already been viewed more than 2 million times and received 350,300 likes. Just like his friends, Mono even got to wear a mortar board when he was carried up to the podium.

Throughout his time at the school, Mono has been a much-loved member of class. There were some days when he wasn't able to arrive quite so early, especially when he needed to catch up on sleep, and the students would show immediate concern. Eraso explained that they would often ask where he was, and sometimes even joke that he hadn't done his homework on time.

Eraso continued: "Since I uploaded the video, it's had a great reaction. I've received so many messages congratulating the teacher for allowing this to happen and letting the cat stick around. I also got a lot of funny comments from people saying it's funny that Mono spent all year sleeping during class but was still able to graduate.

"My mom loves animals and she always teaches her students to care for them and respect them. She hopes that more schools will be able to teach their kids how to be responsible owners."

Many social media users loved seeing how much Mono's hard work paid off, leading to over 5,600 comments in a matter of days. One person responded: "He graduated with honors."

Another person wrote: "They should implement this in all schools, animals calm down and educate."

While one TikToker commented: "When they graduated, I cried."

Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.