¨Please, bring fans¨ cried students at the Secundaria Tecnica 172 in the Real del Valle neighborhood of Tlajomulco.
The students are ensconced in plastic classrooms with temperature five degrees hotter than in the direct sunlight outside, according to students, teachers and parents. With the temperature hitting 35 degrees Monday, students said their “classrooms” resembled saunas.
A good portion of the school collapsed last year and construction of new schoolrooms is behind schedule. Thus, pre-fabricated plastic classrooms are being used, although only for 40 minutes at a time.
“The students can’t even last an hour in these classrooms, as the temperature is unsupportable,” said school director Ismael Luis Martinez.
The administration is rotating the students to classrooms with traditional cement construction.
To top off the situation, the reassignment of teaching jobs by the state has left 96 hours per week without instructors, and parents are filling in for them.