The students from Vrancea county, who have been studying in the cold since they returned from vacation, ask to go online. The County Council of Vrancea Students conveyed that the situation can no longer be tolerated.
Where possible, classrooms are heated with electric heaters. Archive
Over 11,000 students and preschoolers from Focșani sit in the cold at school every day because of the debts accumulated by the local authorities, being forced to wear thick clothes to cope with the conditions. The representatives of the Vrancea County Council of Students emphasize that this situation endangers the health of students and undermines the fundamental right to education.
“We strongly support that online education is the only appropriate option for students to have a safe and healthy environment. Considering the current conditions, we call for the transition to online education to be expedited!”, the students state in a press release.
Students from Focșani: “Heat is not an optional subject!”
As a sign of protest, the Vrancea County Council of Students launched the initiative “Heat is not an optional subject!”, inviting students to come to school with blankets, gloves and scarves, and then post photos on social networks with the hashtag # Frost.
“We ask the authorities to mobilize to provide heat in all affected schools and, until then, to offer students the opportunity to learn online in a safe environment. Every day of delay is a day lost to our education,” said Miruna-Elena Comănescu, president of the Vrancea County Students’ Council.
Teacher: “Students sit in class with jackets on”
Adevărul reporters commented on the situation together with the director “Ion Mincu” Technological High School, one of schools left in the cold. “Some students have their jackets on, others I saw sitting in t-shirts. Because it’s not good either way, I proposed to all of them wearing a hoodie“, teacher Valentina Cucu told us. 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 teacher also told us.
In Focșani, not only schools, kindergartens and nurseries remained in the cold. The heat is off throughout the city. It is, therefore, cold in the houses, cold in public institutions too… This, after the town hall company was disconnected from the gas supplier due to debts.
