Benjamin Peter, edited by Thibault Nadal 9:50 p.m., June 16, 2022

540,000 first year high school students took the French test on Thursday.

But in many high schools in the south of France, this event took place in a heat wave.

In the Villefranche-de-Lauragais high school in Haute-Garonne, the students said they had trouble holding out for four hours in this unbreathable heat.

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After the philosophy tests on Wednesday, 540,000 first year students worked on the French test on Thursday afternoon.

This four-hour test took place in (very) unusual conditions, due to the heat wave that is affecting France.

In the Toulouse region where the mercury reached 39 degrees, the students of the Léon-Blum high school in Villefranche-de-Lauragais did not have a choice: they had to take their exams.

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"The first hour, they did not ventilate"

At the end of the test, all described "an unlivable atmosphere", after having passed the French at the hottest hours.

"We entered the room, it was already very hot. I arrived, I was already sweating. The first hour, they did not ventilate, they left everything closed. There was everyone sweating. I was soaked", explains Lilian who specifies that after the first hour, the school "aired and gave bottles of water (…). When the principal opened the windows, it was a little better. But under this heat, it was still complicated".

Lola, too, had a hard time in a classroom over 35 degrees.

However, this morning, she had chosen to dress lightly: "Basically, this morning, I said to myself 'put on pants and everything, but in the end, it was too hot, it doesn't matter, we goes like that, as if we were on vacation. After a while, I couldn't take it anymore, I was sweating from the forehead, from everywhere, "explains the high school student, who adds that" even the chair stuck to her to the thighs".

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The first positive energy high school

However, this establishment is the first high school in the region with positive energy, with solar panels, wooden facade, trees and plantations for freshness.

But that will not have been enough, given this extreme weather.

"They had a lot of courage to work in these conditions," said a teacher who was watching the students.