About 4,000 pupils returned to the Gkrava school complex in Athens on Monday 2 November after almost a month of remote learning – but they went back to classrooms without gas heating, which the City of Athens says will not be restored until the end of November.
The complex had been closed since 9 October because of a smell of gas, with lessons moved online. The Public broadcaster ERT put the number of pupils affected by the switch to remote learning at 4,000.
A gas smell with no leak
Checks by gas network operator ENAON, the Municipality of Athens’ boiler maintenance contractor ICON and the Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE) found no leak, and the source of the smell is still unknown.
Read more: Greece Introduces New AI Rules for Students and Teachers in Schools
In a letter to the school principals reported by To Pontiki and SKAI, Mayor Haris Doukas said ENAON had carried out three inspections with specialised Picarro detection equipment – on 2–3, 9–10 and 26–28 October – and none detected a smell of gas.
The TEE’s report, delivered to the Ministry of Education on 20 October, nonetheless found serious shortcomings in the gas installations.
The gas detection system at the 40th Gymnasium did not work when tested, the manual gas shut-off was not working, shut-off devices in the central boiler room were non-functional or inaccessible, and the installations deviated from the approved designs. The report also found a weld below minimum standards that must be replaced, and boilers and electrical installations sharing rooms without fire doors.
To Vima reported that one burner had gone without the required inspections for 23 years and the other since 2014. The TEE recommended six interventions for one boiler and eight for the other.
City and ministry trade responsibility
The closure turned into a public tug-of-war between the City of Athens and the Ministry of Education. In early October, Doukas wrote to Education Minister Sofia Zacharaki asking for checks by the ministry and the state school buildings company KTYP, ERT reported. “You too must take your share of the responsibility,” he wrote.
Doukas then said he wanted an immediate expert finding from a public body such as the TEE, and that until then the Gkrava schools would stay closed, with lessons taught remotely. Zacharaki said authorities were waiting for the results so that clear assurances could be given, according to ERT.
After the TEE findings were reported in the media, Doukas wrote to Zacharaki and TEE president Giorgos Stasinos asking them to attend the city council in person, To Vima reported.
Heating due at the end of November
Athens City Council voted unanimously to reopen the schools at an extraordinary session on Thursday 29 October, dnews and SKAI reported.
“Our goal is to obtain the leak-tightness certification so the gas supply can reopen at the end of November,” Doukas wrote to principals on 1 November.
On reopening day, he told “Today the bell rang again at Gkrava… The gas will be available for heating at the end of November.”
Deputy Mayor for Education Thomas Georgiadis told the station that school heating is normally only switched on after mid-November. He said installing air conditioners had been considered as an alternative but would have caused a longer delay, and that works are continuing alongside lessons with ENAON and ICON. According to dnews, the target is to have the heating on by 23 November, or by the end of the month at the latest.
Some reports circulating on social media said heating had been “promised for December”, but the City of Athens’ official timeline points to the end of November.
READ MORE: Gkrava Schools Stay Closed as Doukas Demands State Gas Inspection
READ MORE: Gkrava Gas Odour Unexplained as Inspection Finds No Leak at Athens Schools
Featured image: The Gkrava school complex in Athens in 2015. Photo: Dimitroulitsa, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
