Over 11,000 students from 21 schools in Focșani, Vrancea county, study in the cold. While the children come to school with an extra coat on them, the employees of the educational institutions heat the classrooms with electric heaters, radiators or air conditioners. The reason? The city’s heating company has gone bankrupt, and until the problem is resolved the radiators will remain cold.
Students from 21 schools in Focșani learn with their jackets on. Source: archive
“At the “Ion Mincu” Technological High School in Focșani, the temperature in the classrooms has dropped to 16 degrees Celsius these days”, Prof. Valentina Cucu, director of the school unit, told “Adevărul”. “In the classrooms we have temperatures between 16 and 18 degrees, depending on the location of the respective classrooms. Classrooms with two outer walls are cooler. It’s not comfortable at all, but kids don’t want to go online. So we decided to continue our classes at school, but with some changes in the schedule”the teacher explains the situation. “The hours have shrunk and are now 40 minutes, the breaks are also shorter, only five minutes, and the schedule has also shifted. Students enter classes later,” continues the director. However, the school dormitory is in a critical situation. “In the boarding school, the temperatures are even lower, which is why we can no longer accommodate the children. They can’t sleep at night in the cold. So, in their case, I came up with two recommendations: those who can commute, do so, those who can’t, switch to the online system”, Prof. Valentina Cucu also said.
“Students come dressed thicker. I also saw them with jackets”
The headmistress told us that the situation she was facing appeared with the start of school: “This is the first year we have had problems with the heat. This year the high temperatures outside allowed us to postpone the opening radiators. The day before the holiday, people from ENET called us and asked us if we wanted heat. We, going on vacation the next day, said no. Soon, the issue of stopping the supply of heating agent in the whole city also arose, and on November 4, the more than 600 high school students who returned to classes found the radiators cold”. So students now come to class dressed thicker than they usually do. “Some have jackets on, others I have seen in T-shirts. Because it’s not good either way, I proposed to all of them wearing a hoodie“, explained the director. As for the school employees, they warm themselves with electric heaters and radiators: “We heat the offices as best we can. We also heated some classrooms using air conditioners. But we also don’t want to overload the electrical installation.”
The parents are outraged, but there is nothing they can do
The parents of the students who study in the cold are outraged, but there is nothing they can do. “Not only the schools remained in the cold, but also people’s homes. So, we are talking about a generalized situation. It’s normal that people are outraged, but they all hope that this period will be as short as possible”, the teacher also specified.
“They finally understood the situation, they know that it is not up to us to solve this problem”, sasks the director, who explained that the situation is the consequence of large debts that the supplier can no longer pay: “Fortunately, the temperatures outside are not that cold at the moment, we are not yet in the middle of winter. We hope that starting next week we will return to normal”.
Until then, however, the high school principal watches the weather every day and hopes that it will stop raining. “Yesterday it rained a little and we prepared two rooms where we have air conditioning. We warmed them up for the children who would have arrived at school sooner and would have been cold.” Because there is no heating agent, the school has no hot water either. “But we have boilers, so from this point of view we are fine, we are not suffering. Although we will pay more on bills,” said the teacher.
The County School Inspectorate (IȘJ) Vrancea announced in a press release that the program was reduced in 11 schools in Focșani. “I even accepted up to 30 minutes, because it’s a really special situation, with a five-minute break. Those who applied received approval immediately, so from today they can have a short program”, stated Livia-Silvia Marcu, head of IȘJ Vrancea, for HotNews. “I also presented them with the mayor’s proposal, which recommended online operation. No school has sent me any request in this regard. I was open to any option”added the inspector.
In the meantime, a meeting of the Local Council took place where the establishment of a new company to supply hot water and heat was on the agenda, announced the mayor of Focșani, Cristi Valentin Misăilă.
