Antartica? I thought this was Singapore?

“Can you turn the AC up?” A student in Mr Douglas's math class asked on a rainy tuesday morning. “It says its off but it doesn’t feel like it, I mean I’m Canadian and I’m still feeling cold!” Mr Douglas said, laughing to himself. The moment the students had entered the dull classroom, a chill ran down their spines and throughout the lesson they were fidgeting in their seat attempting to keep themselves warm but sadly failing. They couldn’t focus on their learning because of the strong, chilled air blowing down on them through the vents.

As soon as they were dismissed from class the students sprinted out of the ice box, into the narrow corridor hoping that they would ‘thaw’ as they got outside. “It was so cold, I was going to die!” one of the students exclaimed to her friend. “I know right, my teeth were legit chattering,” her friend replied. They walked fast to their next class in hope of restoring some heat in their bodies.

This wasn’t the only experience the students had with cold classrooms at UWCSEA. Many others have complained that the air conditioning is to low and should be increased to a higher temperature. There is also visual proof, of how cold the school is, by the number of students wearing sweaters to school.

Not only is sitting in cold class rooms uncomfortable for the students but it is also bad for their health.They are constantly going from hot to cold every time they step in and out of their classrooms. This can students to become sick from the rapid change in temperature. Another negative effect of keeping the air conditioning low is the environmental side. It would take up much less electricity if we kept the temperature lower and it would reduce the schools electricity bills. UWCSEA spends 60% of their electricity bills on cooling. This can be cut down by simply turning up the heat. It’s cheaper, healthier and more environmentally friendly too.

Written by Aditi