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- Ελληνικά
The Minister of Education, Sports and Youth, Ms Athina Michailidou, responded today at the Ministry to journalists' questions regarding the measures taken in schools due to the high temperatures.
Asked whether specific measures are being taken to address the situation with the increased temperatures, which are expected to continue, and whether there are plans for a more comprehensive response to the issue, Ms. Michaelidou noted: "At the moment we only have the primary schools working full time, because as you know in the secondary schools the children are just taking exams and they finish tomorrow, while the high schools have completed their work."
Therefore, the issue with the heatwave concerns us all, as it concerns the whole society. There are protocols in place for how school administrators manage the heat wave. But in these peculiar circumstances we have again worked with the Department of Health. We have issued a circular on what school principals, especially children, who are the most vulnerable, should look out for in order to avoid unpleasant incidents in these high temperatures. For decades no provision had been made unfortunately. The procedure for the installation of air conditioners has been completed on 31 May, in accordance with public procurement legislation. So we are happy to say that we are finally moving forward with the 50 schools and with all the work that we had completed before the end of 2023. So we are moving forward with the installation in ten schools per province and that work begins in the next few days. Then, as we had already mentioned, over the course of three years, a plan is being drawn up to install air conditioners in all schools. It goes without saying that from here we are removing the schools that have undergone environmental upgrading and complete reconstruction under the PEDIA programme, and we are also removing schools in mountainous areas where there is no reason to install air conditioners. Beyond that, to say that we fully understand what we're all experiencing, what our workers are experiencing, what our children and our teachers are experiencing, and we're available to support changes and flexibility in the school schedule. That's where each principal can make a judgment as to when some children need to be supported, if they're not feeling well, if they need to go to an air-conditioned room in their school, because as we know almost all schools have air-conditioned rooms, or if the schedule and the flow of the school program needs to be changed. The Ministry of Health guidelines are also relevant.
We even discussed the possibility of children not going to school. This was rejected in consultation mainly with the parents, because not all parents can afford to go and pick up their children and there is also the question of what the children will do and who will supervise them.
There are very few days left until the primary schools close for the summer holidays and at the same time the process of installing the first air conditioners begins and this will bring satisfaction to our educational community, because it has been a request for many years," the Education Minister said.
Asked whether some schools will have air conditioners from September, since the work of installing them is progressing, the Minister noted: "The goal is to have air conditioners in some schools by the new year and to start implementing the grand three-year project."
Asked whether specific schools have been selected, Michailidou replied, "Of course, we have already announced the first 50 schools based on specific criteria. It is something that is managed by the School Boards, which are also responsible for managing these issues with the companies that will install the air conditioners," the Education Minister concluded.
IP
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