Teachers across France have been urged to strike after classroom temperatures soared to 40C during the country’s most severe early-season heatwave, with unions accusing the government of a “blatant lack of preparation” and warning that the health of both staff and pupils is being put at risk.
Several teaching unions issued a joint statement on Thursday denouncing the conditions as “unacceptable” and calling on individual staff to walk out whenever and wherever they deemed it necessary. The action follows reports of fainting incidents, a surge in visits to school infirmaries, and a growing number of health and safety complaints as the mercury climbed. Most of France is under a red alert, with temperatures reaching 40–44C in many regions — a heatwave compared in severity to the 2003 event that caused nearly 15,000 deaths.
Union warnings and strike action
The unions said teachers and students were being endangered in buildings never designed for extreme heat. In some nursery and primary schools, staff have had to keep curtains drawn and spray children with water in a desperate attempt to cool them. The joint statement denounced a “blatant lack of preparation” by the authorities and said teachers were risking their own and their pupils’ health by continuing to work in overheated classrooms. The unions are urging staff to strike individually, at their own discretion, to force the government to act.
The scale of the disruption is immense. Authorities have closed 3,500 schools judged to be dangerously hot, while a further 10,000 have reduced hours or adjusted timetables. Some schools are asking parents to keep children at home or pick them up at lunchtime. Yet many parents have decided it is safer for their children to remain at school than in their own homes, which are often described as “heat traps” — only about 25% of French homes have air conditioning.
Why French schools are so poorly equipped for heatwaves
The core of the problem lies in the design and fabric of French school buildings. Most were constructed long before climate change made extreme summer temperatures a regular threat, and they were built with an emphasis on retaining heat in winter rather than keeping it out in summer. The vast majority lack any form of air conditioning: only about 7% of French schools are equipped with cooling systems. This stands in stark contrast to other European countries such as Greece and Italy, where around half of schools have air conditioning, and is far behind the United States and Japan, where the figure is about 90%.
The architectural choices made decades ago compound the problem. Many schools feature large windows that let in huge amounts of solar radiation, but they were installed without external shutters or effective shading. As a result, classrooms can reach 32–34C by 8am, and temperatures have been recorded soaring above 40C in the afternoon. Inadequate insulation means buildings heat up quickly and cool down slowly, turning them into greenhouses during a heatwave. A survey of secondary schools found that 77.6% recorded temperatures above 30C during a previous heatwave in May 2026, and 87.18% acknowledged they had no adaptation measures in place for climate change.
The effects are felt most acutely in working-class areas. Unions have highlighted that prestigious schools in Paris and other wealthy districts often have air conditioning or other cooling measures, while schools in poorer neighbourhoods lack even basic fans. The inequality is stark and has been a driving force behind the demand for a comprehensive renovation programme.
Government response and exam adaptations
Education Minister Édouard Geffray has insisted that decisions on school closures are best made locally, arguing that some schools may actually be cooler than the homes many children live in. “If it’s 40C in children’s homes, and 30C in schools, I prefer to adapt school activities for them,” he told France 2 TV. He stressed that not all schools would close because for many children, a hot school is preferable to a hotter home.
The minister’s main focus has been on keeping the national exam season running despite the record temperatures. More than 850,000 15-year-olds are due to sit the “brevet” exams, which began on Friday. Geffray announced that the exams would be held only in the mornings and finished by midday. Desks would be spaced out to reduce the number of students per room, water would be handed out, and rules would be adapted to allow pupils to take pauses and leave their desks to cool down. “We’ll try to create optimal conditions — well, less unpleasant conditions — for the exams to be sat,” he said. “But I think it’s better for students to do their exams now rather than not at all, or to postpone until September.”
In high schools, students have been taking their crucial baccalaureate oral exams throughout the heatwave, with some candidates and examiners feeling faint and requiring treatment from school nurses. The Île-de-France region, which includes Paris, has issued €1 million (£860,000) of emergency funding to help exam centres buy fans and other cooling equipment. Geffray also announced that from next summer, all national exams would be held in the morning to avoid the worst of the afternoon heat — a significant shift from previous scheduling practices.
The heatwave has also exposed broader vulnerabilities. Public transport is facing disruptions because rails cannot withstand temperatures above 50C, and train carriage air conditioning is often inadequate during rush hour. France’s electricity utility EDF has shut down some nuclear reactors because high river temperatures limit their ability to discharge cooling water. Heat-related deaths have been reported, including drownings and fatalities in hot cars. Even in the UK, London’s ambulance service recorded its highest ever number of life-threatening emergencies in a single day due to extreme heat. The World Health Organization has warned that Europe’s heatwaves are closing schools and endangering public health, urging leaders to invest in climate-resilient health systems.
Calls for building overhauls
The crisis has reignited a contentious national debate about air conditioning. While some politicians advocate for widespread installation to protect children and staff, others warn of increased energy consumption and environmental damage. Air conditioner sales have surged. But teaching unions argue that piecemeal fixes are not enough. They are calling for a complete overhaul of both school buildings and exam scheduling to cope with the reality of heatwaves that are arriving earlier and hitting harder.
The unions have demanded a comprehensive renovation plan estimated at €5 billion per year for a decade to adapt the country’s school infrastructure to climate change. Such a programme would address insulation, shading, ventilation, and the installation of efficient cooling where necessary. They point out that the current heatwave is the second this year — following a warm spell in May that also forced school closures — and that the number of heatwave days is projected to increase significantly with further warming.
Geffray has acknowledged the need for change, and from next summer exams will be moved to the morning. But the unions insist that without a fundamental redesign of school buildings and a permanent shift in exam timetabling, teachers and students will continue to be put at risk every time the thermometer rises. The strike call is a direct challenge to the government to match its words with the billions of euros required to make France’s schools safe in a warming world.
