Illa promises to air-condition all public schools and high schools in five years

BarcelonaThat all public schools and high schools be prepared for heat and cold within five years. This was the promise made this Monday by the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, in his mid-term conference. The measure will involve an investment of up to 2.5 billion euros —approximately one million for each center— which is expected to be mobilized between this school year and the 2030-2031 academic year (by which time the current legislature will have ended at least three years prior). In this way, the Government expects that in five years all public educational centers will be climate-controlled. Conversely, charter and private schools are not included in the so-called Climate Update Plan. Neither are the schools and high schools of Barcelona, which are already being climate-controlled under the Barcelona Education Consortium's plan.

The announcement comes after one of the complaints from teachers this year has been the heat suffered in classrooms, as some centers have held classes at over 30 degrees in May and June. In fact, the situation led to the creation of movements like Burning Classrooms where it was the teachers themselves who measured the temperature of their classroom to keep a record. Sources from the Department of Education detail that Illa's announcement plans to climate-control all spaces in educational centers —except areas like the gym—, unlike until now, when the choice had been to select specific spaces in each school so that at least one classroom or space in the center would be climate-controlled.

For the moment, the Government will prioritize 100 centers (including nursery schools, schools, and high schools) where it will inject 100 million euros so that they are adapted with "integral climate control, mechanical ventilation, and renewable energies" at the latest by the end of the next school year. Furthermore, a shock plan of 20 million euros is also planned to install fans in 392 schools and high schools in 2026, while the works to climate-control them are not yet carried out.

Beyond this hundred priority centers, starting next year, the process will begin to air-condition the other 2,430 public schools and institutes in Catalonia that need to catch up in the face of the generalized temperature rise. In this regard, the Government recalls that almost 3 out of every 10 centers have buildings dating back to before 1960 and up to 70% were built before the Regulation of Thermal Installations was applied and, therefore, do not have mechanical ventilation systems to meet current standards.

For these centers, the Government plans to finance their air conditioning –from scratch or by making the necessary improvements to reach the appropriate level– through three channels: the Generalitat itself placing a direct execution order to INFRACAT; seeking public-private collaborations (the Department of Economy will have to negotiate to attract private investment) or having the town councils advance the money to air-condition the centers in their municipality. In this third case, in 2027 the Government will launch a call that will last two months so that the municipal councils offer to assume the financing of the air conditioning of schools, an investment that the Generalitat promises to return before 2037. In addition, town councils will be able to request a loan from the Catalan Institute of Finance (ICF) to finance the actions in the educational centers.

The high cost of this action, which amounts to almost one million euros per center, plans to use an aerothermal system with splits (air pumps) instead of traditional air conditioners —which implies, for example, replacing boilers and installing photovoltaic panels to "generate clean energy"—; installing mechanical ventilation systems; carrying out actions on facades and roofs and enclosures, placing protection and solar control films or installing awnings and windows.

50 air-conditioned residences

In addition to schools and high schools, the Government has also announced a plan to air-condition 51 residences for the elderly and people with disabilities. The plan includes an investment of 58 million euros and expects the works to be completed by the end of 2031. Of these fifty or so residences, the vast majority (33) are in the province of Barcelona.