The schools of Madrid, Murcia and Andalusia can adapt their schedules due to the high temperatures

La Rioja makes a "call for tranquility" because in other years "teaching activity has been able to develop normally"

The schools of the Community of Madrid, the Region of Murcia, Andalusia and the Balearic Islands can adapt the teaching hours of their educational centers due to the high temperatures.

Specifically, the Community of Madrid has approved the Action Plan for Episodes of High Temperatures that will allow, among other actions, to adapt school hours and establish specific monitoring of correct air conditioning in social or health care facilities.

In the educational field, schools and institutes in Madrid may adapt the school schedule without affecting the quality of this public service and family reconciliation. In addition, changes can be made in physical activities, changing the hours of performance, avoiding intense exercise and taking extreme precautions when going out to the patio in the hottest parts of the day.

Likewise, complementary and extracurricular activities will be reviewed to prevent them from being carried out in places exposed to the sun. Also noteworthy is the investment of 1.5 million to install floor cooling units in 31 public nursery schools, in order to reduce the effects of high temperatures on a population, between 0 and 3 years of age, who also attend the centers during July.

On the other hand, between this year and 2024, the community chaired by Isabel Díaz Ayuso will allocate 38.2 million euros to undertake 35 actions in schools and institutes focused on reinforcing their response to episodes of heat and cold waves.

Currently, the Department of Education and Universities of the Community of Madrid is developing the rehabilitation of centers to improve thermal insulation systems on facades, renovation of electrical installations and changes in air conditioning units, improvement of carpentry insulation and new systems heating and air conditioning. The installation of solar protection elements will be reinforced, such as awnings or reflective solar control sheets and thermal protection in the facade glasses with the highest solar incidence that reject up to 89% of direct solar radiation without impairing transparency.

In addition, refrigeration systems will be installed to cool environments through the evaporation of water, irrigation systems or the planting of trees, through IMIDRA that favor oxygenation and lower temperatures.

Although at the moment it does not have a plan similar to that of the Community of Madrid, the Ministry of Education of the Region of Murcia has transferred to Europa Press that, at the beginning of the course, it sends instructions to the centers where it is contemplated what to do before the discharges temperatures.

In this way, the Murcian centers have autonomy to be able to take appropriate measures in the face of high temperatures. Precisely, the management of each center may bring forward the end of the school day, guaranteeing transport and dining services, in cases where it is justified because a temperature above 27 degrees is reached inside the classrooms and it is not have air conditioning in them, guaranteeing permanence during the entire regular school day for those students whose families so request.

Likewise, the schools of Murcia will adapt the development of school, complementary and extracurricular activities. In particular, the teaching of Physical Education classes abroad in times of excessive heat will be avoided, and physical activities in this subject may be suspended in any case after eleven hours.

IN ANDALUSIA THE PROTOCOL IS ACTIVATED WITH A YELLOW ALERT LEVEL

In Andalusia there is also a protocol similar to the one approved by the Community of Madrid, with the measures that centers can take if they deem it necessary, such as adapting school hours, since the State Meteorological Agency establishes the yellow level of alerts for high temperatures.

From this course on, the educational centers of the Balearic Islands also have a protocol for action against exceptionally high temperatures, due to the fact that heat waves "are becoming more and more common." In general, this protocol can be activated between June 1 and July 31 and from September 1 to 30, although it is contemplated that it can also be done at other times depending on the weather conditions.

The Directorate General for Planning will report the activation of the protocol based on the information provided by the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet). The protocol will be activated from the yellow alert level (risk).

For the yellow notice level, general measures are established, and with orange notice, the organizational measures are expanded and are more specific, taking into account school, complementary, extracurricular activities and complementary services such as canteen or school transport.

Due to the fact that for the moment the temperatures are still spring in Castilla y León, the Board has not yet considered taking any extraordinary measure in the school environment.

In Castilla-La Mancha there is also no protocol to adapt school hours due to high temperatures. According to sources from the Ministry of Education to Europa Press, they receive 112 meteorological reports daily from the Emergency service and, if they estimate it, they send a series of recommendations that the regional government in turn sends to schools so that, within their autonomy , apply them.

Among these recommendations are, if there are points of excess heat, "that students constantly hydrate, wear loose clothing or that physical education is not practiced in the hours of greatest sun."

LA RIOJA COULD PROPOSE MEASURES IN A FEW WEEKS

For its part, the Government of La Rioja, through the Ministry of Education, is studying different options for the possible scenario of excessive heat that could arise in a few weeks and coinciding with the end of the school year in schools.

However, La Rioja has made "a call for calm" at a time when "the forecast indicates a situation similar to that of recent years, and the experience that teaching activity has been able to develop normally, within of the logical moments of discomfort generated by high temperatures".

In this context, the Government of La Rioja has begun to develop a plan for the conditioning of public educational buildings for the installation of new ventilation and air conditioning systems, which begins with the first cycle Nursery Schools, and will continue in the future with the next levels.

In this same sense, there are several projects underway for the development of thermal envelopes, with the D'Elhuyar de Logroño project as the most advanced and another four currently under development in the headwaters of the region. In the same way, all the new educational infrastructures launched in La Rioja this legislature include the implementation of these air conditioning systems, enclosures and temperature control.