Many S. Korean classrooms remain without heating

About 40 percent of South Korea's elementary, middle and high school classrooms are still without adequate heating and air-conditioning facilities, illustrating the country's lackluster investment in the public education sector, according to data released by the Education Ministry on Wednesday.

The ministry said only 59.9 percent of domestic school classrooms, excluding colleges, were equipped with proper air conditioning and heating systems as of last June.

It said that among the 491,370 classrooms nationwide, 413,350, or 84.1 percent, had proper heaters, meaning students in the remaining ones must sit in cold classrooms in the winter.

"A number of South Korean students in elementary, middle, and high schools endure the cold in their classrooms, which lack adequate heating systems," said a ministry official.

Students also struggle with the heat in summer, according to the ministry, with only 65 percent of the classrooms inspected for the survey equipped with air conditioners.

The findings contrast with the government's campaign to modernize the educational facilities and its massive humanitarian aid for poverty-stricken North Korea.

Seoul, Jan. 31 (Yonhap News)