She was transferred to the hospital via ambulance after fainting and losing consciousness for at least five minutes. This is what occurred to a student at Miguel Hernández High School in Alicante on Wednesday, September 17th, while she was filling out a registration form at the school’s front desk. This occurred on Wednesday, when the temperature was 31 degrees and humidity was 70%. The school’s management corroborated this, noting that thermometers are in most classrooms and that there is a weather station.
This incident is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the scenario that the province’s schools and high schools are facing during the first two weeks of the school year. This isn’t an isolated instance. Several student incidents have happened at this institution.
Four public education unions have gone on strike due to school overcrowding and a lack of teacher replacements. The Alicante Non-University Teaching Staff Board, which includes Stepv, ANPE, CSIF, and CC OO, has requested an urgent meeting with the Regional Education Directorate to address two “very serious” issues at the start of the school year: high temperatures in schools and a lack of coverage for teacher replacements.
On the one hand, they complain that the schools are experiencing “extreme temperatures” with no safeguards in place to mitigate the situation. They note out that many schools surpass 27 degrees Celsius, the maximum legal temperature imposed by Royal Decree 486/1997, putting the health of both children and staff at danger, causing “discomfort, excessive sweating, and even dizziness and mild loss of consciousness.”
The Regional Government complains that “educational centres are not adapted to these temperatures” due to a lack of thermal insulation, proper ventilation (natural and artificial), and shade in playgrounds. They are so urging for immediate action and a precise plan that meets “the new climate scenarios we find ourselves in.”
The proposed solutions include infrastructural upgrades, changes to the school calendar, and the creation of special timetables for the hottest months, which would require “reducing the time of each class to end the day earlier.” They claim that multiple schools have requested this measure, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Territorial Directorate, but “they have not been willing to implement it this year.”
They warn that similar incidents will occur in the future and urge the administration to strengthen and prioritise the Occupational Health and Safety Committees, which were “created precisely to address situations like this.”
Author: Derek Appleton
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