It was said that the Yeminite Jews had so few sefarim that some kids sat opposite others and were taught to read upside down.
Or Russian Jews as well, like this but with 2 more kids:
Jewish Children with their Teacher in Samarkand. Early color photograph from Russia, created by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii as part of his work to document the Russian Empire from 1909 to 1915.