In Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, a school has been without power for 4 days and has been unable to restore normal electricity supply, leading to over a thousand elementary school students having to study in the dark, some even outdoors in the haze. Parents discovered that the school’s power comes from a nearby residential area rather than a dedicated power supply, and there were no backup power sources or emergency plans in place after the outage.
According to parents, the Chanba Green Land Primary School has been without power since last Friday (November 8) and has yet to restore normal electricity supply as of this Monday (November 11).
On the morning of November 11, Huashang Media reported that several citizens in Xi’an contacted them, expressing concerns about the Chanba Green Land Primary School being without power since the evening of November 8, greatly affecting students’ studies.
Mr. Zhou, a parent living in the Green Land Five Lakes Mansion West District adjacent to the Chanba Green Land Primary School, said, “Last Friday evening, both the residential area and the school experienced a power outage, but the residential area quickly regained power. We expected the school to be fixed over the weekend, but to our surprise, the school was still without power on Monday.” He added, “After the power outage at the school, the children had to study in the dark, and because the classrooms were too dimly lit, teachers took the children outdoors for classes.”
On November 10, Xi’an issued an upgraded alert for severe air pollution, raising it from yellow to orange, and implementing level II emergency response measures for severe pollution starting from 7:00 pm on November 10. As per the requirements, the education department should guide primary and secondary schools, kindergartens, and equivalent institutions to adjust their teaching plans appropriately and suspend outdoor activities.
“In such terrible weather, having children study outdoors makes us parents really distressed,” Mr. Zhou said. “We have contacted the school, property management, and the power supply department, but so far, there hasn’t been a good solution.”
Reports stated that on that morning, more than ten parents were seen gathered near the entrance of the Chanba Green Land Primary School in Xi’an, discussing the power outage issue at the school. Parents had various speculations about the cause of the power outage: some said it was due to damaged distribution boxes that the school was unwilling to repair, while others suggested a dispute over power supply between the Five Lakes Mansion West District and the school. However, their common demand was for the school to restore power as soon as possible so that the children could resume their normal classes.
Subsequently, a staff member mentioned they had coordinated and that there would be an emergency vehicle arriving shortly. When asked about the reason for the power outage, the staff member declined to provide an interview or reveal their identity, then promptly left.
Regarding the power outage at the Chanba Green Land Primary School, a staff member from the Five Lakes Mansion West District property management stated that they would have someone respond accordingly. However, there was no response as of the time of reporting.
Reports mentioned that two notices issued on the morning of November 11 were obtained from homeowners in the Five Lakes Mansion West District. One notice was from Rongchuang Property responsible for the community, mentioning that on November 8, a power outage occurred in the district due to a high-voltage fault, with high-voltage power restored the next day. The school then reported a lack of power, and upon third-party inspection, it was found that the original supporting substation had been improperly maintained for a long time, leading to water seepage, burning the distribution box and causing power failure. The property management and the neighborhood committee were jointly coordinating preliminary repairs.
The second notice, from the power supply department, stated that after inspecting the fault power outage on November 8, the internal fault was found to be within Green Land Development, which reflected an internal fault at the Chanba Green Land Primary School. Since the school is a power customer of Green Land Development, not a power enterprise asset, all three units – Green Land Development, Rongchuang Property, and Chanba Green Land Primary School were informed to promptly address the internal fault. Power companies fully cooperated with the three units to restore power, yet confirmed that none had undertaken fault handling work.
Director Qiao of the Five Lakes Mansion West District homeowners committee mentioned that on the afternoon of November 8, four distribution boxes in the district experienced faults, with one of them responsible for supplying power to the Chanba Green Land Primary School. After the power outage and subsequent repair, temporary power was restored within the district. However, as the school lacked a temporary power supply, the power outage has persisted for 4 days without being resolved.
Mr. Qiao stated that in addition to the lack of a temporary power supply, Chanba Green Land Primary School also lacked any emergency plan, and their attitude towards problem-solving was not proactive. “Previously, parents proposed using generators to supply power so that at least the children could study normally, but they replied with ‘it’s unaffordable’ and directly turned down the request.”
Regarding the subsequent issues of repairing and replacing the distribution boxes, Mr. Qiao pointed out that the high costs of such repairs raised disputes over who should bear the expenses. The street, community, property management, and homeowners are currently coordinating to reach a speedy resolution.
Around 3:00 pm on November 11, homeowners from the Five Lakes Mansion West District stated that the Waipo Hill Center power supply authority had coordinated for an emergency vehicle to provide temporary power to the Chanba Green Land Primary School and urged Rongchuang Property to promptly carry out repair work.
Homeowners questioned the lack of dedicated electricity supply at the school to cut construction costs. The 4-day power outage at the school has raised many doubts among parents and homeowners.
As explained by Mr. Qiao, the power supply for the Chanba Green Land Primary School does not come directly from the power company but is transferred from the power company to the residential area, then supplied to the school, a fact further supported by the notification from the power supply department.
Ms. Li, a parent, expressed that the school’s power supply is critical for the daily teaching of over a thousand students, and it should have a dedicated power supply instead of being connected through residential areas. “The school not only lacks dedicated power supply but also fails to prepare any emergency power sources, greatly disrupting the children’s studies.”
A parent residing in the Five Lakes Mansion West District mentioned, “Both the residential area and the school are developments by Green Land Development. It’s suspect that due to cost-cutting, the school’s electricity was connected through the residential area without a dedicated supply. How could this pass acceptance tests?”
Mr. Zhao, a homeowner in the Five Lakes Mansion West District, stated, “The cost of repairing distribution boxes is high. It remains unclear who should bear the repair costs for the distribution box responsible for supplying power to the school. The school’s handling attitude towards this matter is passive, and expecting homeowners to take responsibility is unreasonable as this is clearly a problem caused by the developer’s early construction defects and improper maintenance of the property, which we cannot accept.”
Faced with this power outage incident, the Chanba Green Land Primary School, Rongchuang Property, and Green Land Development evidently lack sufficient emergency preparedness and solutions. Their handling attitude towards the problem is not proactive enough, failing to timely coordinate resources from all parties to promptly carry out power fault handling, leading to prolonged issues. The question of why the school was not equipped with a dedicated power supply during the initial construction phase also urgently requires responses from the development company and the school.