Canary Islands Schools Closed Due to Extreme Heat

Canary Islands Schools Closed Due to Extreme Heat

The Government of the Canary Islands has decided to suspend classes at all non-university educational centers in the archipelago for Wednesday, October 11, and Friday, October 13. Thursday, October 12, is a national holiday and thus excluded from the calendar. The reason: eleven consecutive days of anomalous temperatures, maximum fire risk alerts, and forecasts anticipating that temperatures will rise even further. Education Minister Poli Suárez justified the measure by appealing to the "priority and safety" of minors, acknowledging that "the situation in many centers is already unsustainable."

The measure comes after days where schools themselves reported fainting spells, minor nosebleeds, and an extreme dependence on water bottles. At IES Magallanes in San Isidro (Tenerife), the student union called a strike for students over 14. At CEIP Llano de las Naciones in San Miguel de Abona, teachers have resorted to water sprays to cool students down and take turns going to the supermarket to buy cold water. School staff admit that infrastructure is not prepared for this.

Why Close Schools at 32 Degrees but Not 40?

Here begins the first conflict. One analysis argues that 32 degrees in the Canary Islands are not comparable to 32 degrees in mainland Spain: humidity, lack of shade, and classroom overcrowding—nearly 30 students in some cases—turn the heat into a public health issue. The other current, dominant in the debate's tone, responds with irony: "If it's 32 degrees in Tenerife and 34 in Las Palmas, that's a cool summer here where I live." The underlying argument is that suspending school activities for temperatures endured without drama in other regions sets a difficult precedent.

The minister announced that his department is working with Health and Emergency services on a high-temperature protocol, nonexistent until now in the Canary Islands, and left the decision to join or not join the suspension to universities. In other words: the measure is taken without a prior framework, based solely on weather forecasts.

The Long Weekend Some Point To

The suspension falls on Wednesday and Friday, with a national holiday on Thursday in between. The resulting schedule is a five-day block without school. This detail has fueled the most cynical interpretation: that the heat is an excuse and the long weekend is the goal. "Just when there are less than 48 hours before a NATIONAL HOLIDAY," summarizes one of the most repeated comments. Another calls it directly "laziness + neglect + apathy."

Against this thesis, the health argument relies on episodes already documented in schools: fainting, mild bleeding, unfinished construction work, and patios without shade. It is not a textbook heatwave, but teaching staff have been improvising emergency solutions for days.

Missing Air Conditioning and Excess Heating

One of the points where the debate becomes more uncomfortable is infrastructure. The recurring complaint: Spanish schools are equipped with heaters for mild winters but lack air conditioning for summers that are no longer mild. "All damn schools have heaters, but almost none have a goddamn air conditioner," summarizes a comment that has gathered support. In the Canary Islands, with a winter average that rarely justifies heating, the imbalance is even more striking.

The lingering question is where the money comes from. Some compare spending on school climate control with other public budget items and conclude it is not a problem of resources, but of priorities. The official response, for now, is a protocol under construction and two days of closure.

From Heat to Climate: The Framework Surrounding Everything

The background of the issue is climate change, and here the debate splits in two. One current assumes it as inevitable context: "these cases, I antiestéticar, are here to stay," according to the minister himself. Another dismisses it with irony: "something similar peine in 1276," "it's just an excuse for more taxes." The discussion then drifts toward fiscal territory and who pays the bill for adaptation.

The anecdote that sums up the absurdity: a participant recalls that in September 1997 it was already "blazing hot" in the islands, and nobody talked about global warming then. The half-joking reply is that the ozone layer and spray deodorants were to blame. Humor does not hide the underlying problem: adapting public infrastructure to a climate that is no longer that of the last century.

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How many days of school can be lost before the protocol stops being a promise and becomes a budget line? As of this discussion, the answer remains unwritten.