Teaching unions in France have urged staff to strike over “unacceptable working conditions” as a severe heatwave pushes classroom temperatures to 40°C, with national exams proceeding despite record heat. The unions warned that the health of both teachers and students is being put at risk.
Unions denounce government lack of preparation
Several teaching unions issued a joint statement on Thursday denouncing a “blatant lack of preparation” by the government. Teachers have been forced to work in classrooms where temperatures soared to 40°C. The unions suggested that staff should strike individually whenever they deem it necessary.
Most of France is under red alert, and the heatwave is expected to peak on Thursday. Authorities have closed 3,500 schools deemed too dangerously hot and reduced hours at a further 10,000 schools.
School buildings not designed for extreme heat
Many French school buildings and their exposed playgrounds were not designed for extreme temperatures. They lack proper insulation and air-conditioning, and many have large windows without external shutters, causing classroom temperatures to exceed 30°C or even 40°C. In some nursery and primary schools, teachers have kept curtains closed and sprayed children with water to try to cool them.
France is struggling to adapt its heat-trap school buildings for the exam season as hundreds of thousands of teenagers sit national tests. Education Minister Édouard Geffray confirmed on Thursday that the “brevet” exams for more than 850,000 15-year-olds would go ahead starting Friday, despite record temperatures.
Exams to proceed with modifications
Geffray stated that exams would be held in the mornings and end by midday. Desks would be spaced out to reduce the number of students per room, water would be distributed, and rules would be adjusted to allow students to take breaks and leave their desks to cool down. He told France 2 TV: “We’ll try to create optimal conditions – well, less unpleasant conditions – for the exams to be sat. But I think it’s better for students to do their exams now rather than not at all, or to postpone until September.”
In high schools, students have been taking crucial baccalaureate oral exams throughout the heatwave. Some students and examiners have felt faint and required treatment by school nurses. Students have also complained of being unable to revise in their homes, which often become heat traps.
Emergency funding and parental decisions
The Île-de-France region, which includes Paris, has issued €1 million (£860,000) in emergency funding to help high-school exam centres purchase fans and cooling equipment. Many parents in Paris decided it was safer for children to be at school than in overheated homes during record temperatures.
Geffray noted that not all schools would close completely because for many French children living in heat-trap homes, a hot school might be preferable. “If it’s 40°C in children’s homes, and 30°C in schools, I prefer to adapt school activities for them,” he said.
Future changes and union demands
Geffray announced that from next summer, all national exams would be held in the morning rather than the afternoon. However, unions have called for a complete overhaul of school buildings and exam scheduling to deal with heatwaves, which are hitting earlier in the school year.
