On October 29, the Surinamese Ministry of Education, Science and Culture officially announced a further extension of its modified reduced school schedule, which will now remain in effect through November 15, a move prompted by ongoing unseasonably high temperatures across the country. The adjusted timetable, which sends all primary school, VOJ, and VOS students home at 12 p.m. each school day, was first implemented when the 2024-2025 academic year kicked off on October 1. The ministry’s decision was directly informed by latest public advisories from the Meteorological Service Suriname, which has issued repeated warnings of sustained warm to extremely hot weather conditions that show no signs of abating in the first two weeks of November. This prolonged heat adaptation measure has cast a spotlight on longstanding systemic gaps in the nation’s school infrastructure: a large share of public school buildings lack adequate cross-ventilation or cooling systems to maintain a safe, comfortable learning environment for students and staff during heatwaves. Over the roughly six-week extended period of shortened school days, educators face significant pressure to cover all required curriculum content within a drastically reduced number of instructional hours. The disruption is expected to hit under-resourced schools the hardest, as many of these campuses already grapple with overlapping challenges including classroom shortages, understaffed teaching teams, and insufficient basic learning facilities. Notably, the official ministry statement did not outline any concrete plans to make up for the lost instructional time for students, nor did it detail any targeted investments or policy measures to upgrade school infrastructure to better withstand future extreme heat events.