Schools of all Spain They are increasingly at risk of having to suspend classes due to the unforeseen weather brought about by climate change. Most Spanish school buildings lack air conditioning or heating, have outdated windows or have not been renovated in decades, making them very vulnerable to extreme temperatures.
The Government of Canary Islands, which yesterday decided to close all its educational centers both today and Friday – tomorrow is a holiday – due to the heat. The measure is unprecedented in this autonomous community. Last May, regions such as Andalusia, Madrid, Catalonia o Murcia They also had to advance their summer preventive measures, which in other years began in June, to make schedules more flexible or allow students to go home earlier.
“The high temperatures are there and I fear that they are here to stay, we are going to have many episodes like these,” warns the Canarian Minister of Education, Poli Suarez (PP), to justify a controversial decision but, in his opinion, necessary to counteract a “new” climate phenomenon against which “we must act.”
«We have no other choice. Students and teaching staff have fainted and we have received messages from centers asking us to please suspend or give online classes. We have an infrastructure problem because the classrooms are not prepared for the heat, most do not meet the conditions and some are many years old and are in a deplorable state,” he denounces in conversation with EL MUNDO.
Suárez blames the previous regional government (formed by PSOE, Unidas Sí Podemos, Nueva Canarias and Agrupación Socialista Gomera) for leaving the educational facilities “in abandonment.” He denounces that this team did not ask the central government for funding for the Program to Promote the Rehabilitation of Public Buildings (PIREP)which has distributed 110 million of euros between the autonomous communities to improve school infrastructure.