Back to school: more than 9 out of 10 schools still have no air conditioning

The unseasonal heatwave that has hit the country on several occasions over the summer is far from over and, according to an in-depth report by the specialist magazine Tuttoscuola, despite the progress made in recent years, 9 out of 10 school buildings are still without air conditioning. Italia remains, however, one of the European countries where the school year starts later, a factor which helps to some extent to alleviate the discomfort caused by extreme temperatures.

The Tuttoscuola study shows, first and foremost, that over the last four years there has been a marked increase in the number of schools fitted with air-conditioning: whilst in the two-year period 2020–2021 there were 1,593 (3.95 per cent of the 40,342 buildings surveyed), by 2024–2025 this figure had risen to 2,835 (7.20 per cent of the 39,351 surveyed to date), representing a total increase of over 1,200.

This gradual improvement is evident from an analysis of the data for the two-year period 2021–2022, when the number of schools with air-conditioning systems had risen to 2,116 (5.26 per cent of the total), before reaching 2,509 (6.25 per cent) during the following school year. By 2023–24, this figure had risen to 2,730, representing 6.83 per cent of the 39,993 school buildings. The magazine also points out that, although more than nine in ten schools still lack air-conditioning, the latest available figures relate to the 2024–2025 school year and that the government, as part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), has invested substantial resources in this type of system.

In compiling this analysis, Tuttoscuola has analysed data from the Ministry of Education’s portal, which, however, does not explicitly record the presence of systems designed to cool rooms, but merely lists buildings fitted with ventilation-based air-conditioning units, without specifying whether these units can be used for both heating and cooling. For the purposes of the study, the magazine considers them to be suitable for cooling rooms as well.

As for classrooms, however, according to the magazine’s estimates, only just over one in 14 is fitted with air-conditioning. Assuming that their distribution is, on average, proportional to that of the buildings – as stated in the Tuttoscuola study – it can be estimated that, out of a total of 365,973 classrooms considered for 2024–25, around 26,350 will have air conditioning, whilst 339,623 will not. The figure obtained, however, is not the result of a direct survey of individual classrooms, but rather an estimate based on the percentage of buildings.