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Teachers express concernover teaching in hot classrooms

PARAMARIBO – The Ministry of Education, Science and Culture announced that the nation’s primary schools and schools for secondary education on junior and senior level will close at noon in October because of the hot temperature.

Times of Suriname

The measure comes at a time when dozens of teachers made it clear that it is increasingly getting unbearable to remain in the hot classrooms. Some of the teachers have purchased a fan to cool the temperature down a bit. One of the teachers explained that the situation becomes ‘heavy’ after 9 a.m. “The sun becomes unbearable after nine o’clock. I do not know how I will make it to the end of the school year,” said the teacher who expressed concern over the fact that she will have 33 pupils in her classroom this school year. “How are all of this supposed to survive the heat? The high temperature not only puts a lot of pressure on teachers but it can also affect the concentration of the pupils.” Multiple teachers explained that they bought their own fan because the school lacks the funds to buy fans or ACs for the classrooms. They expressed concern over the fact that they have to buy things that should be provided by the government. The teachers hope that the government will give more attention to the circumstances under which they have to work. They explained that it is important that teachers and students work under acceptable circumstances. Several principals explained that they will opt to shorten the periods so that the students can be taught all of the subjects every day. The teachers hope that the government will start looking for structural solutions to tackle the heat in the classrooms.