A school in Argentina lets students come to class in bathing suits and splash themselves with water because of the heat

Faced with a heat wave that has been affecting several regions of Argentina for almost two weeks, a school in Rosario (north) has taken an unusual measure: it allows students to come in bathing suits so that they can be splashed with water during recreation, the local press reported on Monday.

The thermometer rose to 38 degrees Celsius on Monday in the province of Buenos Aires and several provinces in the north-central part of the country in an interminable austral summer that set several records: the warmest summer since measurements began (1906) for Buenos Aires and the hottest summer at national level since 1961, according to Agerpres.

Many schools suspended classes last week due to lack of air conditioning or in anticipation of a drop in temperatures.

In a school in Rosario, 310 km from Buenos Aires, the Francisco Gurruchaga complex, where air conditioning cannot be used due to low voltage, classes have been suspended until Wednesday or Thursday for middle school students. But the school management took an unprecedented measure in order not to deprive the students of the primary cycle of classes.

“We decided that the students (…) who wish to do so, can participate in classes in bathing suits, sandals, with a towel and a change of clothes, and during recreation the children will sit in the shade and can use a hose garden” to splash with water, the school’s management stated in a letter addressed to parents last week, reported by the Rosario daily, La Capital.

“I’ve never encountered (a heat) like this before, and the school must provide an answer,” said principal Marian Sanchez, telling local television station Cadena 3 that the water would be used responsibly.

Publisher: DC

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