Premier: Air-conditioners to Be Installed at All Primary & Secondary Schools within 2 Years

Premier: Air-conditioners to Be Installed at All Primary & Secondary Schools within 2 Years

Source: UDN

July 8, 2020

With the continuous high temperatures, installing air-conditioners at schools and whether to declare a day-off owing to the hot weather have become issues that county executives and city mayors are paying attention to. Yesterday, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) announced that the government would improve the old electrical facilities of around 100,000 classrooms in primary and secondary schools across Taiwan, adding that all of them would have air-conditioners installed by the summer of 2022.

Education Minister Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) indicates that the total funding will be about NT$32.3 billion (US$1.1 billion), adding that the central government will subsidize 70 to 90 percent of the funding with money budgeted for the Forward-looking Infrastructure Construction Plan depending on the fiscal situations of the local governments.

Pan further says that the installation ratios of air-conditioners are 37% at primary and middle schools and 80% at high schools, adding that by 2022 the ratios will be 100%.

Pan states that the electricity bills at primary and middle schools will be subsidized by the central government, while high schools will be charged to the users of air-conditioning. He emphasizes that the Ministry of Education will impose relevant regulations to prevent energy wasting.

In addition, Taipower will assist in installing energy-saving and cooling devices on school rooftops.

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