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Parents' rage burns over Incheon elementary school's scheduled air conditioning break

Published: 09 Jul. 2025, 15:20

A classroom in an elementary school in Seoul is seen on Sept. 4, 2023. [NEWS1]

An elementary school in Incheon, where a heat wave advisory was in effect, came under fire for turning off air conditioning citing "budget issues," only to roll back the decision after parent complaints.

The school in Bupyeong District of Incheon stopped operating air conditioners throughout the school, including in classrooms, for one hour from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Monday, according to the Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education on Wednesday.

In addition, from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. — after students had gone home — the school halted air conditioning in the staff room, principal’s office and administrative office where faculty and staff work. During that time, the temperature in the Bupyeong area was 32.3 degrees Celsius (90.1 degrees Fahrenheit) with a heat wave advisory in effect.

The school had notified parents that it would reduce air conditioning usage due to budget shortages following an internal meeting held on Friday. It explained that this year's operating budget was 640 million won ($466,080), down by about 57 million won from the previous year, prompting the decision to scale back air conditioner use.

However, after a wave of parent complaints within a single day of implementation, the school reversed the decision and resumed running the air conditioning.

“We temporarily halted air conditioning because we were concerned that this year’s budget might not be sufficient to cover heating costs in winter,” a school official stated. “Classrooms are now running air conditioning as normal, and for the staff room and administrative offices, we’ve decided to use electric fans for certain periods instead.”

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY JANG GU-SEUL [[email protected]]