Khanty-Mansi Students Protest to Mizulina Over Cold-Weather Cancellations

High school students from Nyagan, Uray, Kogalym, and Pokachi have complained to Yekaterina Mizulina about the lack of cold-weather cancellations during severe frost. They are outraged that classes are canceled only for students in grades 1 through 8, even though the air temperature drops to extreme –38 to –40 degrees Celsius (–36 to –40°F).

The head of the League for Safe Internet posted the students« appeals on social media. According to them, the temperature recorded in announcements about cancellations sometimes does not match the actual one. In reality, the frost outside reaches –38 to –40 degrees Celsius (–36 to –40°F) — under such conditions, students from grades 1 to 11 should stay home.

Other schoolchildren claim that even when the required temperature thresholds are reached, classes are somehow not canceled for them. Many high school students are also dissatisfied that they are sent to lessons when younger students have cancellations — after all, it«s equally cold for everyone, regardless of age. The children freeze and are seriously concerned about their health.

“The terrible frost has been going on for a whole week, the teacher says that grades 8–11 should go to school in –32 to –34 degrees Celsius (–25.6 to –29.2°F). Some teachers are outraged why we go to school in such cold. How to solve this? I don«t really want to get sick,” writes a student from Pokachi.

“Even though I«m a high school student, it»s very cold outside even for me. The second shift was at –35 degrees Celsius (–31°F), but lessons were canceled for grades 1–8, even though there was a notification from the Ministry of Emergency Situations about abnormal weather,” reports a schoolboy from Uray.

“At 6 a.m., it might be –32 degrees Celsius (–25.6°F) without wind, but why isn«t it considered that from 2 p.m. until late evening the weather gets worse, the temperature drops to –36 degrees Celsius (–32.8°F) when children are walking home from school. In such a case, classes are canceled for the second shift, but students of the first shift are forced to go home in the same weather,” writes a resident of Nyagan.

Schoolchildren in Nyagan also complained that the local weather station records a temperature of –34 degrees Celsius (–29.2°F), while in other parts of the city it reaches –37 to –40 degrees Celsius (–34.6 to –40°F).

“The school is very poorly heated. We have to study in our outerwear for several days now. And we return home in the cold,” said a Nyagan schoolboy.

Earlier we wrote that Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug is expecting bitter cold down to –44 degrees Celsius (–47.2°F).