France pledges over $190 million to cool schools

PARIS – More than €130 million (S$192 million) have been allocated to fund cooling systems and renovation works in French schools and nurseries to help them prepare for future heatwaves, state-owned utility EDF and several lenders said on June 26.

Most French schools are not designed to withstand extreme temperatures and lack air-conditioning.

A record-breaking heatwave this week forced the closure of thousands of schools, while those that remained open have struggled to teach pupils in sweltering classrooms or to administer end-of-school exams for graduating high-schoolers.

On June 25, French teaching unions called for a strike to protest against “unacceptable working conditions”.

EDF said it would earmark €80 million to equip schools, nurseries and daycare centres with cooling systems. Half of that amount would fund more than 100,000 items of equipment – such as fans, misting devices and air-conditioning units – across more than 10,000 establishments by the end of September.

The remainder will be distributed in lump sums of €10,000 per facility to help finance cooling systems until the end of June 2027.

“As heatwaves increasingly affect our country, we wanted to take concrete action by helping schools, nurseries and daycare centres equip themselves with both immediately available cooling solutions and longer-term improvements,” EDF chief executive officer Bernard Fontana said in a statement.

Separately, several groups including lenders Banque Postale and Banque des Territoires said they would earmark €50 million to adapt 12,500 schools.

“We will start as early as next week with 2,500 eligible schools,” France’s Economy Minister Roland Lescure said.

Some parents have resorted to makeshift solutions to cool their children’s classrooms, using chalk-based coatings on windows or attaching emergency blankets to them. AFP