PARIS, Nov 30 south-east of Paris began issuing blankets to schoolchildren due to low temperatures in the classrooms due to the fact that the city hall is delaying turning on the heating due to increased electricity bills, radio station Franceinfo reported on Wednesday.
In the commune of Limay-Brévanne southeast of Paris, parents have launched a petition demanding that the heating be turned on.
«They took the temperature in the classrooms and it turned out that it was only 10-12 degrees,» — said the vice president of the local association of parents of students, Audrey Gouffe.
«But the mayor's office told us that given the current situation children should get used to studying in such conditions,» she added.
Since the heating in buildings is turned off completely at night, the classrooms are warmed up only by the middle of the day, the mayor's office explained.
«Electricity bills will put many communities up against the wall,» Julien Lode-Haddad, head of administration of Limay-Brévanne Mayor's Office, told the radio station, noting that the city's energy costs had risen by 3.7 million euros.
He also noted that the funds promised by the government to support the municipalities were never disbursed. A school in Limay-Brévannes gives students blankets and heaters are brought into the classrooms because the radiators stay cold. Parents said that teachers advise to «wrap up» children, dressing them in «layers».
According to the media, many French schools have not yet turned on the heating, despite the fact that it is very cold outside.
«When we arrived at school, the teacher warned that the temperature in the classroom was 12 degrees and allowed the child to keep his hat on and gloves,” said one of the parents of a child from a school in the Eure department in northern France.
According to the media, the same situation is observed in Limoges, and in the city of Evreux in northern France, parents forced the authorities to turn on the heating by blocking the entrance to the school. The city authorities, meanwhile, said they were forced to turn off the heating to cut energy consumption and comply with the «energy sobriety» plan presented by the government in the fall.
The French government in early October officially unveiled its «energy sobriety» plan, designed to reduce the country's energy consumption and prepare for a winter without Russian gas. According to this plan, the temperature in the premises of private houses and administrative buildings should not exceed 19 degrees, in warehouses it will be reduced to 16 degrees. Water heaters must be set to a temperature of 55 degrees. In addition, the government may shorten the heating season depending on weather conditions.
French authorities have also approved a ban on the display of illuminated advertising at night — from 1.00 to 6.00 am — and the open doors of shops with the heating or air conditioning turned on. The time of stadium lighting before and after matches was reduced by 50% in the daytime, by 30% in the evening.
After the start of a special military operation in Ukraine, the West increased sanctions pressure on Russia, which led to an increase in prices for electricity, fuel and food supply in Europe and the USA. Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously stated that the policy of containment and weakening of Russia is a long-term strategy of the West, and sanctions have dealt a serious blow to the entire global economy. According to him, the main goal of the West is to worsen the lives of millions of people. The Russian Federation has repeatedly stated that Russia will solve all the problems that the West creates for it.