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【text/observer.com columnist zuo wei】

although the start of school in september is already autumn, the temperature remains high in many places, and some areas have already announced that the start of school will be postponed. the discussion on whether primary and secondary schools should install air conditioners has once again sparked heated discussions.

in fact, this is an old question. relevant departments in various places have responded to the issue of "installing air conditioners in classrooms" before. for example, in 2020, the changsha municipal education bureau replied in the information department of the municipal party committee office that "severe cold and hot weather are also a kind of exercise for primary and secondary school students"; in 2021, the hefei municipal education bureau also replied that "students should not be treated as flowers in a greenhouse and over-protected." these statements have been supported by some netizens.

in heated debate, many netizens believe that the extreme weather in recent years cannot be compared with that in the past few decades, and installing air conditioners is the responsible approach to students' health. there is no need to "suffer without effort" and call it "exercise."

in fact, whether to install air conditioning is far from a dispute of concepts.

policy gap and compliance

take the start of school in september this year as an example. due to the continued high temperatures in chengdu, the "12345 hotline" was flooded with calls from parents in chengdu. netizens from various regions also frequently consulted the "ask sichuan" platform about matters related to the installation of air conditioners in schools.

compared with the changsha and hefei education bureaus that sparked heated discussions, chengdu also gave a more detailed explanation: "in the school equipment catalogues issued by the national, provincial and municipal education departments, there are no clear regulations on whether air conditioners should be installed in primary and secondary school classrooms, and there are no specific requirements for the standards for installing air conditioners in student classrooms."

the chengdu jinjiang district education bureau also mentioned the specific difficulties in implementation. in addition to the lack of clear national regulations on the configuration of air conditioners, there is also a lack of "procurement basis and procedures for unified procurement and installation". in addition, "classrooms are public areas with a high concentration of people, and measures such as opening windows for ventilation are required to reduce the probability of clustered infectious diseases", "there is a large temperature difference between inside and outside the classroom, which makes it easy to get sick", and "other measures will be taken to cool down and relieve the heat".

it is true that the current national and local policies and regulations do not explicitly require that air conditioners must be installed in primary and secondary school classrooms. the reason is not difficult to understand. my country is vast and the climate varies greatly. it is difficult to comprehensively understand the perception of "high temperature" in different places. objectively, there is no unified demand for the installation of air conditioners, and it is impossible for the country to issue unified guidance on this.

the policy gap has meant that some regions have no clear guidance and basis on the issue of whether to install air conditioners. in the face of netizens' opinions and suggestions, the responses of relevant departments in many places are of the "following the rules" variety. although serious and decent, they obviously fail to meet the expectations of most students and parents, and ignore the simple emotions of the parent group in the air-conditioning controversy.

at the same time, many primary and secondary schools in many regions have already achieved free air conditioning, and in areas without full coverage, many schools have installed air conditioning. since ancient times, "it is not the lack of it that is worrying, but the inequality of it", so in the minds of many people, air conditioning should become a standard feature of modern campuses.

although there are no relevant regulations, not all local education bureaus are cautious and follow the rules. as early as march 2019, the yancheng municipal government of jiangsu province issued the "opinions on promoting the installation of air conditioners in classrooms in primary and secondary schools in the city", making "installing air conditioners in primary and secondary schools" a government task before the summer. however, the problem does not seem to be completely solved. after the local primary and secondary schools were fully equipped with air conditioners, some schools "hang them up and do not use them."

so from the school's perspective, why is it so difficult to install air conditioners? why do some schools not use air conditioners when they are available?

the classroom is too hot and the children's clothes are soaked

cash-strapped and hard to allocate

in addition to policy guidance, a more specific difficulty is the allocation of fiscal funds.

"it's difficult to cover, in the final analysis, it's still a matter of money," a principal in the main urban area of ​​chengdu admitted. "for schools and education bureaus, air conditioners are not rare items, and purchasing them is not a big problem. but when allocating educational resources, it is necessary to consider many aspects, including the normal operating costs of teachers and students, teacher training, and teaching equipment updates, and air conditioners are often ranked at the back." "for some schools in old urban areas, installing air conditioners is even more difficult. it involves the transformation of lines and power supply equipment and subsequent maintenance, which is a huge expense."

before the frequent occurrence of extreme weather, students’ summer vacation covered most of the high temperature period. even if schools installed air conditioners, they were only used for a short period of time. therefore, in the face of limited funds, air conditioner installation was often regarded as non-essential and shelved. however, in recent years, extreme weather has occurred frequently around the world, and summer vacation can no longer cover the high temperature period. as a result, teachers, students and parents have increased their demands for air conditioners.

where does the money come from? public schools naturally rely on fiscal supply. but now that the global economy is in a downturn, governments at all levels are facing tight finances and are stretched to the limit. especially in economically underdeveloped areas, the shortage of funds is even more serious.

sometimes, sufficient funds cannot solve the problem in the short term. in some large cities, many famous schools in the inner city are "old and small", and the power lines and voltage capacity cannot bear the operating needs of air conditioners. the structure and design of school buildings, such as window positions and wall materials, are not suitable for installing air conditioners or there are safety hazards after installation. for example, a school in wanzhou, chongqing, could not use air conditioners properly even if they were installed due to aging power lines and unupgraded transformers. even in zhejiang, a rich city, there are schools in ningbo yinzhou district that cannot install air conditioners due to insufficient hardware.

even if air conditioners are installed, their later use is a thorny issue. "the school does not have the funds to keep the air conditioners running. if the electricity bill is paid from class fees, it will violate the current charging policy for primary and secondary schools." an educator in xiangtan explained why some schools shut down their air conditioners after installing them.

a government worker in sichuan explained that the difficulty in popularizing air conditioning in primary and secondary schools is also related to the sharp increase in electricity consumption in various places. "although our area is a hydroelectric power generation area, the electricity is not only used to supply the lives of tens of millions of people in the city, but also to supply the manufacturing chain of large factories in the north and south. some parents complain that 'the children are bored, and you sit in the office with the air conditioner on'. in fact, in our district government departments, except for lighting, the air conditioners are turned off at noon. sometimes, there are even time limits for electricity in residential areas."

home-school linkage is a dead end

in the scorching sun, are we going to watch teachers and students "squatting in the oven"? therefore, in the absence of support from the education department, some schools "take a different approach" and pass the costs on to students' families.

this brings us to the "agreement on donating air conditioners by parents" of hunan tianyi jinxia primary school, which has been hotly discussed online recently. the agreement shows that parents donate air conditioners for classrooms, and the installation, sockets, and wiring are all the responsibility of the donors, and the electricity bills are settled and submitted to the school by the donors on schedule. after arousing public opinion, the local education bureau came forward to ask the school to return the money to the parents and repurchase the donated air conditioners. according to convention, the relevant person in charge of the school will definitely be held accountable.

in fact, according to the previous replies from some local education bureaus, schools and families are given a certain degree of discretion: "if parents have demands, they can make suggestions to the school. whether to install air conditioners is decided by the school based on conditions and resolved through consultation with the parent group." however, there is a key question behind the home-school consultation: can schools introduce market means to solve the problem?

the classroom is too hot, so parents in changsha buy ice cubes to put in the classroom to cool down their children

let’s look at two cases.

in may this year, a school parent committee member solicited opinions in the class group, asking parents whether they were willing to pay 65 yuan per person to install air conditioners in their children's classrooms. the group chat screenshot was posted online and caused heated discussions, so the plan was stopped. in some areas, even if the education bureau gives parents and schools autonomy and certain financial support, it is difficult for parents in each class to reach a consensus. if someone reports it, the plan will be stopped immediately.

another case is even more shocking. this case has many twists and turns, and the length of the battle line, the diversity of demands from all parties, and the complexity of grassroots governance are vividly demonstrated in it.

in july this year, the guangxi discipline inspection and supervision network reported "eight typical cases of the concentrated rectification of unhealthy tendencies and corruption among the masses". among them was the problem of air conditioners being out of service in many local schools due to rental and usage fees.

simply put, previously, led by multiple parent committees, 26 schools in guiping city negotiated with a third-party company, which independently funded the installation of air conditioners in school classrooms and student dormitories, and later repaid the money in long-term installments by charging students rental fees and electricity fees. after the air conditioners were used for a period of time, in 2021, due to reports from individual parents and the increased supervision of education fee issues by departments at all levels, the third-party company could no longer charge students for air conditioner rental and electricity fees, and nearly 6,500 air conditioners were decommissioned.

during the three years of suspension, many parents expressed their willingness to pay for air conditioning, but because there was no clear rule for charging, coupled with pressure from reports and supervision from higher authorities, the school was caught between parents and higher authorities, and the air conditioning was never used again. until this year, under the supervision of the municipal commission for discipline inspection and supervision, the functional departments of education, finance, etc. guided the relevant schools to use public funds to repurchase and pay the electricity bills of air conditioners on an annual and batch basis, finally allowing 65,000 students to have cool air again.

this incident may seem like a unique individual case, but it actually has certain universal characteristics as a dilemma at the grassroots level, and it has repeated the deadlock of "discovering problems - exercising independent discretion to flexibly resolve them - being reported for suspected violations - and shelving them across the board."

it must be said that after several years of shelving, the municipal commission for discipline inspection dared to take the initiative to intervene to "clear old accounts and clean up the mess", included this matter in the "duty list" for centralized rectification and properly resolved it, which is commendable. however, it is still debatable whether to report it as an unhealthy trend and corruption issue - schools with insufficient funds introduced market means and installed air conditioners under the premise of the approval of the vast majority of parents, which is a positive action of home-school linkage.

moreover, it is not difficult to find in the more detailed investigation report that the fees charged by most local schools are in line with the relevant notification standards issued by the city's price bureau, finance bureau, and education bureau, that is, "central air conditioning is 65 yuan per person per semester, and split air conditioning is 50 yuan per person per semester." after the air conditioner is installed, students and parents are also given the right to choose independently. those who do not want to pay can go to teaching buildings and dormitories without air conditioners. for students who use air conditioners but whose families are in financial difficulties, the students can apply for a reduction or exemption of relevant fees after verification.

this matter is too complicated to be explained in a few words. in "rashomon", every character feels that he has done nothing wrong. from the perspective of merchants, investing independently and choosing to get a long-term return on investment is a concession to education; from the perspective of the vast majority of parents, why not spend a little money to solve the urgent needs of students and parents? from the perspective of the school, one of the middle schools charged excessive fees (130 yuan per person per semester, and charged electricity fees at the same time), but it was checked and stopped in all schools, which was frustrating; and after the relevant management departments received reports and complaints from some parents, they found that although there were no doubts about "kickbacks" and "corruption", "air conditioning fees" were indeed not on the "list of public school education fees", so it was determined that it was a random charge and ordered to rectify it in accordance with the law, and there was nothing wrong with it.

this case reflects the current "air conditioning dilemma": facing the needs of students and parents, local finances cannot achieve full coverage; there is no air conditioning funding item on the list of service charges for public ordinary middle schools; parents can neither raise funds to purchase nor make voluntary donations, and companies can neither invest in installation nor rent air conditioners; if only the demand for air conditioning is considered, all parties will face disputes and reporting risks, and when the relevant departments come forward after receiving the reports, they can usually only copy the regulations and make a one-size-fits-all approach, which to some extent deprives families and schools of the space to adopt stopgap measures. it is standardization, but it may not be a good thing in the long run.

a chain reaction triggered by an air conditioner ended in a stalemate and a total loss, resulting in the local spectacle of air conditioners being "installed but not used, hanging high up", which is really a cause for sigh.

conclusion

in summary, at this stage: first, the country has no clear regulations on the configuration of air conditioners; second, it is difficult to fully cover local financial difficulties; finally, the current relevant regulations block the way for families, schools and communities to introduce market means to jointly solve the problem, and there are disputes and contradictions among parents on whether to install air conditioners and the subsequent costs. these may be the main reasons for the air conditioner dilemma. the rhetoric of some regions to respond to the educational concept of "hard work and perseverance" is more like a fig leaf.

however, there are always more solutions than problems, and the root of the problem is actually people. in recent years, some regions with conditions and courage to act have taken the lead. for example, chancheng district, foshan, guangdong, plans to invest 112 million yuan in early 2022 to implement the "cooling project" for school classrooms; for another example, 15 cities and counties including danzhou and wenchang have completed the installation of air conditioners in more than 200 public primary and secondary schools and more than 7,000 classrooms and function rooms, basically achieving full coverage of air conditioning configuration in public primary and secondary school classrooms across hainan province.

some areas do not have the conditions, but are creating them. for example, the yancheng "june 9, 2020 city people's livelihood shortcomings meeting" has become popular again recently. in the case of power distribution shortage, the municipal party secretary required that "if the power distribution capacity of the air conditioners in primary and secondary school classrooms is insufficient, the air conditioners in the local streets and government office buildings will all be shut down, and the 11 counties and districts in the city will be inspected within a week. if it is still insufficient, the air conditioners in the municipal government office building will be shut down."

for example, on september 4, the response from the education bureau of xingguo county, jiangxi province, was also sincere and heartfelt. the survey stated that "the installation of air conditioners in ordinary classrooms has not yet been covered, and the existing air conditioners are mostly concentrated in computer classrooms and recording classrooms", and stated the fact that "it is limited by the overall arrangement and allocation of current education funds". it also stated its attitude that "we are well aware that a good learning environment is crucial to students' learning results and physical and mental health", and also took measures to "seek government support, social donations, and optimize internal resource allocation" and "install fans and other temporary measures".

according to the 2024 china climate change blue book released by the china meteorological administration, 2023 will be the warmest year in the world since records began, with frequent extreme weather and climate events. my country's average temperature will hit a record high since complete meteorological records began. in the next 30 years, china's average regional extreme maximum temperature will rise by 1.7°c to 2.8°c, with the largest increases in east china and western xinjiang. the average number of high-temperature heat wave days in china will increase by 7 to 15 days. especially under high-emission scenarios, the current extreme high-temperature events that occur once every 50 years will become once every 1 to 2 years by the end of this century.

this means that the possibility of students encountering extreme high temperatures will increase in the future, and similar disputes will frequently occur. from a macro perspective, whether it is policy adjustments, funding guarantees, mechanism coordination, etc., they should be put on the agenda as soon as possible.

in the face of the public sentiment ignited by "high temperature" and "air conditioning" in recent days, local relevant departments should give full play to their subjective initiative, whether in review or prospect, instead of passively watching national policies. in the face of people's livelihood demands, relevant departments should show their responsibility and ignore the core issues. by showing their attitude and pointing out the difficulties, the public can see whether the answers are shirking or striving to promote them. in addition, widely soliciting the demands and opinions of parents, students and society, and actively giving feedback upward, will also help explore a long-term mechanism that takes into account the demands and interests of all parties.

functional departments should work in accordance with the law and regulations, which should be consistent with the realization of people's well-being, rather than contradictory.

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