A primary school in the Argentine province of Santa Fe called on its students to come to class in bathing suits to combat the oppressive temperatures that the center and north of the country endure in a sweltering southern summer, with record records and drought.
"We never experience something like this and the school has to respond, it is our obligation to interpret what happens"Mariana Sánchez, director of the Francisco Gurruchaga elementary school in the city of Rosario, 310 km north of Buenos Aires, told the press.
The initiative seeks for children to cool off with water during breaks to cope with the temperatures that reached 38 degrees this Monday, when an alert is in effect after nine consecutive heat waves.
Although the school has air conditioning equipment, voltage drops make it impossible to use it, explained the directive.
"Students from first to seventh grade who wish, may attend classes with a leotard, flip flops, a towel and an extra change of clothes, since recess will be held in the square, in the shade and with a hose"detailed the institution, according to the newspaper La Capital.
According to the National Meteorological Service (SMN), which has collected data since 1961, this is the hottest summer since then and last month was also the second driest February, with 41.9% less rain than average due to the effects of the La Niña phenomenon.
According to the SMN, the first ten days of March had extremely high temperatures in the central east of the country with average maximums of up to 8 and 10 ºC above normal for the time.