Extreme Heat Is Disrupting the Start of the School Year

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Some Chinese schools are postponing classes and others asking parents to donate air conditioning units as an intense heat wave stretches into September. By Li Xin and Lin Liuhan China’s schools are facing intensifying public calls to install air conditioning units in their classrooms as an unseasonal heat wave disrupts the start of the academic year. Temperatures in many parts of China are still above 35 degrees Celsius, but large numbers of primary and middle school classrooms rely only on ceiling fans for ventilation. With class sizes often exceeding 40 students, the heat can be intolerable, forcing schools to take a range of emergency measures, from delaying classes to asking parents to donate AC units and giant blocks of ice. But these calls for donations are also sparking controversy. In central China’s Hunan province, one primary school has faced accusations of trying to get parents pay for AC to be installed in each of its classrooms. The school issued a donation form to ………………………………