For several weeks now, the cold has settled in schools, colleges, high schools and universities. With the drop in temperatures, many of them are no longer able to work in decent conditions. Parents of pupils and students denounce a worrying situation.
[Mise à jour du 12 décembre à 16h33] In the schools, alongside the students, a new comrade has found his place and does not intend to leave anytime soon: cold. Since weeks, almost everywhere in France, students have lessons in classrooms where the temperatures are particularly low. In question, the current context between the rise in energy prices and the energy sobriety plan defended by the government. The municipalities, which are in charge of lighting the heater in schools, seem to be struggling to find the right balance between student well-being and energy expenditure. Some have decided to postpone switching on the heating, while others have chosen to respect the thermostat capped at 19°C. In fact, the temperature is very often below this median temperature, because of establishments that are far too old in terms of insulation, or a boiler room system that does not work properly. As a result, the children are the first to suffer and the teachers too. A situation that is increasingly worrying, as winter is well established and the outside temperatures for the next few days will be negative in the morning. Overview of what is currently happening for many pupils and students.
Classes at 10-14°C degrees
In the middle of winter, many schools are affected by this temperature problem. This is particularly the case in the town of Montceau in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Daily The Journal of Saône-et-Loira father with other parents of students recently denounced the conditions in which his children teach at the Jean-Jaurès elementary school: “It was between 13°C and 15°C in some classrooms. The one where my son is educated in the Ulis class (localized unit for inclusive education, editor’s note) read 14.6°C.” In the town of Limeil-Brévannes in the Val-de-Marne, similar situations have also been observed in nursery and elementary schools, starting in October when the temperatures began to drop. “Parents took temperature readings, we were at 10-12°C”confided Audrey Gouffé, vice-president of the parents’ association GIPE to France Info.
Colleges and high schools affected by the cold
College and high school students are also required to teach in the cold, and sometimes even in the dark without electricity. This situation is visible in the Voillaume high school in Aulnay-sous-Bois in Seine-Saint-Denis, whose premises are very dilapidated. Students are forced to learn without heating and without light, from morning until night. Our colleagues from RMC have obtained edifying images and testimonies, which attest to these conditions. “This morning, we had a lesson in the dark, there was no electricity… We only saw the notebooks with the flashes of the telephones. It’s been ten times since the beginning of November. Frankly, it’s outrageous, something has to be done”, reported a senior high school student. Both students and teachers are outraged. “I am also ashamed for the students to have to receive them in such conditions”said a high school history-geo teacher.
Students stack the layers of sweaters
Universities are not spared by this problem either, which is not new.r. “Students and teachers were already in down jackets in the amphitheatres in the past, not to mention the rooms in which it rains. University buildings are huge thermal sieves and we waited for this crisis to deal with it“explained Imane Ouelhadj, president of the student union Unef to The Student. Some students have no choice but to pile up the layers of “sweaters, because it’s not very hot. And that’s the case in several universities, not just in Lille”, confessed a sociology student at the University of Lille to the media. Also in Metz, France Blue Lorraine North echoed the message published by a second-year history student at the University of Lorraine who denounced on his Facebook account the low temperatures felt in the various classrooms of the university.
Angry parents of students
For parents of students, the current situation in schools is more than worrying. In view of the temperatures felt, some are worried about the repercussions on their children, others still think of withdrawing them from school and in Rouen in Normandy, last November, parents refused to let them in class when thermometers displayed between 11 and 15°C degrees. On social networks, many parents have also started to denounce the conditions in which their offspring study.