France is allocating 130 million euros to equip schools with cooling systems — AFP
In France, more than 130 million euros have been allocated to fund cooling systems and renovation work in French schools and preschools to help them prepare for future heat waves.
This large-scale financial assistance is aimed at modernizing educational infrastructure that is currently ill-equipped to handle sudden climate changes.
The need for immediate retrofitting of educational institutions arose due to the critical mismatch between the buildings and modern weather conditions.
Most French schools are not designed to withstand extreme temperatures and lack air conditioning systems.
This leads to significant overheating of classrooms during the summer months and poses a health risk to children and teachers.
Due to the lack of adequate conditions in classrooms, social tensions among the country’s teaching staff have risen significantly. On Thursday, French teachers’ unions called for a strike to protest “unacceptable working conditions.”
Widespread discontent has forced the private sector and government institutions to quickly mobilize resources to resolve this problem.
The leading national electricity producer has shouldered the bulk of the financial burden.
The French energy company EDF announced that it would allocate 80 million euros to equip schools, kindergartens, and childcare centers with cooling systems.
This amount will be divided into two phases to achieve both immediate and long-term results.
Half of this amount will go toward funding more than 100,000 pieces of equipment—such as fans, water misters, and air conditioners—in more than 10,000 facilities by the end of September.
The remaining funds will be distributed as one-time payments of 10,000 euros to each facility to finance cooling systems by the end of June next year.
“As heat waves are affecting our country with increasing frequency, we wanted to take concrete action to help schools, kindergartens, and childcare centers equip themselves with both cooling solutions available now and long-term improvements,” EDF CEO Bernard Fontana said in a statement.
This was reported by the AFP news agency.
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