NSW will sanction unflued gas heaters to five local schools making them among the first ones to get them replaced.

The few that are on the list of a total 101 schools are as follows: Khancoban Public School, Tumbarumba Public School and High School, Murray High School and Batlow Central School. These schools are on a priority list for heater replacement.

Verity Firth, Education Minister, says that by next winter schools in the priority group will have new heaters.

She said, “Most of schools will be with flued heaters. Now there will be different options for different schools because there will be different considerations for each school. If you have a heritage school, perhaps it will be harder to give that school a flued heater. In some circumstances they may get reverse cycle air conditioning if that's a better fit for that school.”

The COUGH group says that the list does not include all schools in very cold parts of the state. It also called on the government to right away announce the timeline for the removal of the rest of the heaters.