Pupils walk out as classroom temperatures soar to 37ºC
Sunday, September 14, 2014 @ 4:09 PM
PUPILS in schools across the Comunidad Valenciana are set to go on strike on Thursday this coming week in protest over classroom temperatures of up to 37ºC with no air-conditioning.
Recent reports show that hardly any schools in the province of Alicante have air-conditioning units – even those built in the last three years.
A long-awaited new high school in Dénia (Alicante) opened this year and one in Pego a few kilometres away in 2011, but planners did not think to fit air-conditioning units.
Kids walked out of class on Thursday and Friday and staged protests in the streets, carrying signs reading, 'we can't learn in a sauna', 'my brain's melting' and 'these temperatures are insane'.
The region's pupils went back nearly two weeks early this year, on September 3, to 'bring schools in line with other European countries' – and since then have been suffering sweltering climates in class.
Schools throughout the region have moved classes into the playground because of the heat, whilst pupils turn up for class in swimwear and flip-flops with towels – partly in protest and partly for practical reasons.
Teachers have been handing out bottles of water and ice lollies, paid for out of their own pockets, and bringing in fans from home.
Children have even been rushed to A&E with heat-stroke, or had to be taken outside in the playground and doused in water.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com