Alex Trelinski
TEACHING unions in the Valencian Community are calling for lectures and lessons to be suspended if temperatures get too high.
The region’s school year ends on Friday with the final week seeing teachers and children having to put with the highest June temperatures in 20 years.
University terms run as late as the first week of July.
Unions want timetables to be rescheduled to avoid school and higher education classes during the hottest time of the day.
The CC Education Federation wants temperatures taken every hour and to cease lessons if values go above the maximum permitted 27 degrees and 70% humidity.
The regional Ministry of Education last week sent a circular to education centre management teams insisting on basic health recommendations like the need to drink enough water and to look for shaded areas if students are outdoors.
The ministry says that any suspension in classes is down to individual municipalities exercising their civil protection powers.
It added that it had not heard of formal demands to change timetables.
The UGT PV union pointed to the Extremadura region where all educational activities end at 12.30 pm to avoid the hottest part of the day.
Unions have commented on recent examples of students suffering from fainting while sitting examinations.
The CSIF union has demanded an infrastructure plan that over the medium and long term would see all schools and colleges have air conditioning systems installed.
READ MORE:
- Heatwave hell: Spain sizzles in hottest temperatures ever recorded in June
- Official guide to keeping cool as Spain braces for first official heatwave of the year
- Spain limits air conditioning and heating in public buildings in latest drive to save energy
