France pledges 130 mln euros to cool schools

PARIS

More than 130 million euros have been allocated to fund cooling systems and renovation works in French schools and nurseries to help them prepare for future heat waves, 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 heat wave 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 “unacceptable working conditions.”

State-owned utility EDF said it would earmark 80 million euros to equip schools, nurseries and daycare centers 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 euros per facility to help finance cooling systems until the end of June next year.

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

Separately, several groups including lenders Banque Postale and Banque des Territoires said they would earmark 50 million euros to adapt 12,500 schools.
“We will start as early as next week with 2,500 eligible schools,” 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.