Complaints about the lack of fans in schools, in the midst of the sweltering heat wave, remain at the top of the most worrying issues in the educational communities of La Plata, both public and private. The claims, in turn, are accompanied by different measures of the affected sectors.
In addition, this Tuesday they gave a holiday at the UNLP Faculty of Veterinary Sciences due to lack of water and light, in the midst of oppressive heat. In addition, from the student center they denounced a lack of cleanliness.
Meanwhile, today it was learned that the students of Secondary School 27, aged 17 and 35, demanded the suspension of classes and organized a sit-in for today. In this context, it was reported that they finally gave up the demonstration in the street, since the school authorities agreed to the request and ordered the cessation of school activity.
“This Tuesday we will be holding a small protest demanding the temporary cessation of classes due to the high temperatures. We do not have fans in the classrooms. We will be protesting not only because of the heat, but also because of the lack of resources and the critical situation in which it is the building”, reported the young people. Then they stated that “after organizing ourselves for the protest, they finally suspended classes, so the measure will not be carried out”
For this issue, from Suteba Multicolor they announced a march to the Regional Headquarters of 50 between 12 and 13 for 10 am tomorrow.
“The heat wave that was installed during the start of classes only shows the serious building crisis that schools are going through. The Minister of Education Jaime Perzcyk declared that ‘you have to go to school anyway’… whatever , taking risks, affecting our health, but go the same. The minister is not concerned about education, students and teachers,” they highlighted from the union wing.
As they listed, “in many schools there are no fans or air conditioning, there is no water, the classrooms are small to contain a huge enrollment, there is no cross ventilation, the lighting installations are deficient, the patios are small because the buildings are shared between primary and secondary schools and there are no shaded spaces, there is a lack of inputs and materials”.
“Faced with this, many schools decided to suspend activities, reduce the day and hug, but today we have no answers,” they added.
“Let’s hold assemblies and promote different initiatives to make visible to the community of students and families what conditions the schools are in and coordinate actions. This is not how you can learn and teach,” they stated in advance of the mobilization.
Measures in private schools
Based on the contribution of specialists and authorities of the institution, the Association of Private Education Institutes of the Province of Buenos Aires (AIEPBA) prepared a list of pedagogical and logistical tools to be applied in educational establishments as a way of mitigating the effects of the heat wave that crosses a good part of the Buenos Aires territory and the rest of the country.
“We have made some suggestions and collected experiences that our associates had in these first days of the school year affected by extreme temperatures,” explained the Executive Secretary of AIEPBA, Martín Zurita.
Among the measures suggested by the entity that brings together more than 2,300 educational institutes of all levels in Buenos Aires, are the following:
Rotation of spaces for students within the school to places with greater ventilation, outdoors or in the shade.
Suggest the use of light uniform items until the heat wave passes, allowing school shorts to be worn instead of long pants, for example.
Cool off at breaks and make hydration times more flexible in the classroom. Provide jugs with cold water or dispensers, to supply throughout the day.
In Physical Education classes, carry out theoretical activities; and in those establishments where the subject is taught mainly in covered and ventilated sectors, carry out low-intensity activity.
Strengthen through claims to public service entities, the continuity of the supply of energy and running water due to the very high interruption in supplies.
The suspension of classes for weather reasons is provided for in the General School Regulations and is an institutional and exceptional decision, in case the conditions warrant it. Prior to this, other alternatives can be considered, such as: establishing time slots to carry out academic tasks virtually, or not counting absences in any shift.
Likewise, it is suggested to apply the indications issued in this regard by the Undersecretary of Education of the DGCE.
From the pedagogical perspective, teachers can use the current contingency as a trigger to address, transversally in the classroom and at different educational levels, environmental problems and global warming.
The AIEPBA secretary acknowledged that “the current emergency situation forces us to reformulate issues of system operation. Private education intends to face this type of contingency, but now its financial capacity is limited due to, among other reasons, a regulated tariff system,” said Zurita.
And he added that “this wave will pass, but it should leave us a lesson to improve the quality of the education system in general.”
