No child should have to learn in a cold classroom – children’s commissioner
Chris Quinn has criticised the suggestion that children should have to wear more clothes
ByRobbie MeredithEducation and arts correspondent and Aimee BellBBC News NI
No child should be expected to learn in a cold classroom because of budget pressures, according to Northern Ireland’s commissioner for children.
Chris Quinn was speaking after it emerged that staff and pupils at schools across Northern Ireland have been told to “wear more clothes” to cut heating bills.
Schools have been told by the Education Authority (EA) that increasing costs will affect school energy bills and to reduce heating and lighting “wherever possible”.
Quinn said: “Children should not be left to pick up the pieces of a problem that they did not create”.
The EA has said that school gas and electricity bills are set to rise by about £8m by March 2027.
But principals have told BBC News NI it is not straightforward to cut heating costs, with one describing her school’s energy bills as “ferocious”.
Rising energy costs are already affecting households across Northern Ireland.
The impact of the US-Israel war with Iran is one of the factors behind the increase.
The letter from the EA to head teachers said that “recent geopolitical events are expected to have a substantial impact on energy costs… during the 2026/27 financial year”.
It said that total school gas bills were expected to go up by 60% from £10.7m to £17m by March 2027.
Meanwhile, total school electricity bills are expected to rise from £23.8m to £25.1m in the same time period.
“Given the scale of the anticipated cost increases, we are asking all schools to review their energy usage and identify opportunities to reduce consumption wherever possible,” the EA said.
Among the measures suggested to schools are cutting heating use by an hour a day and switching off classroom lights to use natural daylight instead.
Quinn told BBC Radio Ulster’s Evening Extra programme that the department and EA had a “duty to properly fund schools and not to pass this burden onto children”.
Quinn said he had visited schools where young people were already wearing extra jumpers and teachers were buying heaters to keep pupils warm and in extreme cases, some pupils were using hot water bottles as well.
“Learning in a cold classroom will have a detrimental effect on the child’s ability to learn but also, their health,” he said.
He said the burden of savings were being put on the wrong people.
“That line about wearing extra clothes, in no other industry, in no other workplace, would you expect that people put on an extra jumper or wear a coat in doors”, he said.
Energy efficiency challenges
Kirsty Logan-Hall says her school is in an older building which presents energy efficiency challenges
The principal of Tullygally Primary School in Craigavon, Kirsty Logan-Hall, said that the school was “committed to promoting responsible energy consumption and regularly reinforce good practice with staff and pupils”.
“However, our ability to achieve significant reductions in energy usage is constrained by the nature of our estate,” she said.
“The school operates from an older building which presents inherent energy efficiency challenges.
“In addition, our site is particularly spread out due to the accommodation and operational requirements associated with our specialist provision.
“This necessitates the heating, lighting and ongoing use of multiple areas across the site throughout the school day to ensure appropriate learning environments, accessibility and pupil welfare.
“It is important to recognise that there is limited scope for reducing energy consumption without adversely impacting the quality of provision, staff working conditions or the wellbeing of pupils, including those with additional needs.”
Claire Robinson says heating can’t just be “turned off” in some parts of the school
Meanwhile, the principal of Holy Evangelists Primary School in Dunmurry, Claire Robinson, said that energy costs were “ferocious”.
“We can’t play around with the heating.”
Parts of the school are relatively new and have underfloor heating.
“Our classrooms can’t drop below a certain temperature so we have to keep the heating on.
“We can’t just turn the heating off in some areas of the school.”
Robinson said that although the school was relatively new it had been given an energy efficiency rating of D due to the costs involved in running the heating system.
Brian Guthrie is principal of Ebrington Primary School in Londonderry
Brian Guthrie, principal of Ebrington Primary School in Londonderry said asking children to sit in a class wearing extra clothes is “ridiculous”.
“I’m not going be asking children and staff to put coats and hats on during the winter time.
“We will be running the heat as we need it but we do look at all other energy saving costs as we can,” he told BBC Radio Foyle’s North West Today programme.
Guthrie said his school building is around ten years old and is, at present “very energy efficient”.
The installation of 100 solar panels last year, he added, should “have paid itself back” over the next five years.
Children need to be taught in “an ambient classroom”, he said. Adding the EA should “look at other ways of saving in schools”.
Meanwhile, Emma Quinn from Rathcoole Primary told BBC Good Morning Ulster that the “lack of maintenance” has an impact on schools, adding that pupils have a right to come into a warm school after being outside.
“Putting this pressure onto us at the minute is ridiculous, when we are eco schools, we are doing all of these, we are turning off lights, but yet this lands in on our doorstep.
“We’re suddenly expected to jump and to fix a problem that is so systemic, it’s just not good enough.”
