School Under the Sun: Stay at Home or Go to School?

For many students in the United Kingdom, air-conditioned classrooms are not an option. This is not that big of an issue until the temperature starts rising. According to the BBC, , with temperatures rising to and . This has been a major issue because schools without air conditioning lack alternative solutions when temperatures rise. Schools without air conditioning should not be allowed to open their doors on days with unsafe temperatures.

The United Kingdom does not have specific laws legislating how schools should function under heatwaves. The BBC’s senior education correspondent, Vanessa Clarke, stated that the headmaster of each school must decide how they should proceed under these kinds of harsh temperatures. This could result in poor decisions that put the students at risk of excessive heat exposure.

When temperatures reach an unsafe level, undefined. According to West Tennessee Healthcare, undefined, which puts them at greater risk of getting sick. Moreover, teachers may struggle to watch tens of students all at once, increasing the likelihood that a student experiencing heatstroke symptoms goes unnoticed.

Many schools in the United Kingdom lack air conditioning, which means the responsibility of making sure the teaching area is at a suitable temperature is on the teacher. All the responsibility falling on one person can lead to a single-point failure, which can be disastrous for vulnerable individuals, such as children. This is why schools without a reliable ventilation or cooling system should take the day off and look for an alternative method of teaching the students, such as online classes, during days of extreme heat.

Some may be concerned with students falling behind if they miss school. However, a day off from school will not offset a student by much. It is much more important to make sure every student is safe during the school day, which takes priority over academic activities.

Student safety should always be the number one concern in the classroom, and rising temperatures should be no exception. Heat sickness can be lethal if unnoticed, and unnecessarily exposing children to that risk is not worth what they would have learned that day in school. As such, schools without air conditioning should remain closed during periods of high heat, out of respect for the students they are responsible for.