The French Minister of National Education, Édouard Geffray, announced that “845 schools and colleges will close their doors” on Monday, June 22, in France due to an unprecedented heatwave.
Geffray stated in a press release that these institutions, located “mainly in the regions placed under red alert,” will not receive students or will provide “a minimum reception.”
According to the minister, 1,800 other institutions intend to adjust their schedules by dismissing students at the beginning of the afternoon period.
This announcement comes a day after the activation of a joint ministerial crisis cell dedicated to the heatwave currently affecting France, where 35 departments have been placed “under red alert.” This is the highest alert level, with temperatures likely to exceed 40 degrees Celsius in several parts of the country.
At the conclusion of a crisis cell meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, the French government confirmed yesterday that it is fully mobilized to enable the country’s health system to “withstand in the long term.”
The executive affirmed, in a statement published following the meeting, that “this wave, given its characteristics, may place our health services, particularly hospitals, under continuous pressure.”
Accordingly, the government is mobilizing all state agencies, governors, regional health agencies, and relief services to enable our health system to withstand in the long term.
According to forecasts from the French meteorological service, Monday, June 22, may be “the hottest day ever recorded in France.”
This heatwave will have an intensity “similar to the heatwaves experienced in the country in July 2019 and August 2003, but its duration is still uncertain,” according to the French meteorological service, which sees that the current heatwave may continue and even worsen during a large part of the coming week.
