One heatwave has already come and gone and another may be on the way. Yet, even as students struggle with the heat of final exams, the number of schools equipped with air conditioning has remained unchanged since last year.
Nationalist MP Justin Schembri recently challenged the prime minister and the education minister to spend a day in a classroom without an AC.
Despite promises, most government schools are still not equipped with air conditioning, he complained.
Every summer, both teachers and parents highlight how hot classrooms are. Parents talk of their children being “drenched in sweat” at school.
In 2019, a petition calling on the government to install air conditioners in all state schools garnered over 6,000 signatures, with the Malta Union of Teachers saying at the time that the lack of air conditioning was a sign of major
disrespect to educators and a disservice to their students.
Replying to questions from Times of Malta, the education ministry said it had fitted air conditioners into 31 state schools over the last five years. There are 112 state schools in all.
The figure of 31 has remained unchanged since last year when the ministry, then headed by Justyne Caruana, replied to a similar question.
At the time, the minister spoke of plans to have air conditioners installed in 17 more schools, adding she had instructed ministry officials to come up with a plan “over a number of years” to have all classrooms equipped with AC.
A spokesperson for the ministry said this time round that preliminary studies were being carried out on all state schools to assess the works required.
“There are several technical issues which need to be factored in, especially in the infrastructure of old buildings, where there are potential issues of insufficient electricity supply to the extent that new substations need to be built,” he said.
He said a public call was expected to be issued in the coming weeks for the installation of ACs at Ħandaq secondary and middle schools with an estimated budget of over €2 million for the installation of about 570 units.
Meanwhile, schools earmarked for complete renovation will be equipped with air conditioners. These include Għaxaq and Nadur primary schools, where works will start this year with a capital investment of about €8 million, the spokesperson said.