Ventilation, indoor air quality and learning in schools

Studies show that environmental conditions in schools are often inadequate, even in developed countries, and that they are frequently much worse than in office buildings. Outdoor air supply rates in schools are considerably lower than in offices, in many cases even lower than those observed in dwellings. Research studies show that inadequate classroom ventilation can reduce learning abilities of pupils in elementary school as measured in form of improved performance of typical school tasks requiring skills in maths and language and in form of the tests used by educational departments to examine the progress in teaching. Inadequate ventilation rates will also decrease illness absence, which may be detrimental for learning process. Children in classrooms with poor ventilation are less attentive and less concentrated. The negative results on learning may have significant economic implications, which are not immediate and can be first harnessed in the future when children join the job market, but some of them may be also seen immediately in form of the reduced absence rate of teachers as well as parents or caregivers. The ventilation solutions to improve classroom ventilation will largely depend on the climatic conditions but in the case of moderate climates mechanical ventilation and hybrid systems seem the most attractive solutions.