Siberian pupils go to school as temperatures hit -50C
- Published
Cold, but not cold enough
Pupils in a Siberian town are still going to school after outdoor temperatures plunged to -50C (-58F), it's been reported.
Oymyakon in Russia's Sakha Republic of north-eastern Siberia might be in a deep freeze but it's not too cold to prevent children heading to the classroom, local news portal reports.
School in the settlement is officially closed for children in grades 1 to 5 when temperatures drop below -52 degrees. "Today it was -50C in the morning, all the children are studying," an official in the Oymyakon administration told Ykt.Ru.
In the city of Yakutsk, situated 30 kilometres south of Oymyakon, -50C is considered too cold for school children. Pupils there only get the day off if temperatures fall to a comparatively balmy -45 Celsius, .
Oymyakon, also called the Pole of Cold, is one of the coldest inhabited places on Earth. The coldest temperature recorded there was noted in January 1973, when temperatures reached -65 degrees Celsius (-85F).
In Britain, there's no minimum outdoor temperature to keep children out of school. for classrooms and workplaces say that schools should only consider closing if classroom temperatures dip below around 16 Celsius.
Watch: Hot water freezes instantly at -40 in Oymyakon
Reporting by Aleksandr Panin and Alistair Coleman
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