Classroom Ventilation and Its Impact on Concentration and Performance of Students: Evidences from Air-Conditioned and Naturally Ventilated Schools of Delhi

Abstract

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentration acts as an important indicator of indoor air quality inside school premises. CO₂ concentration above 1000 ppm inside a building is an indicator of insufficient ventilation which may cause health complaints to the occupants and may directly or indirectly impair concentration and performance of the students. Realizing the need for research in this area, an attempt was made to investigate the relationship between classroom ventilation and Concentration Performance (CP) of school children. In this paper, the classroom ventilation was evaluated through the concentration of CO₂ inside air-conditioned (AC) and naturally ventilated (NV) urban school buildings located in South Delhi. The results indicated the evident problem of elevated concentrations of CO₂ inside the AC schools which often exceeded the ASHRAE’s recommended limit of 1000 ppm. The results from the d2 test reflected that mean CP score of students was higher in the schools with lower CO₂ concentrations than students from schools with higher CO₂ values. However, the differences in their mean were not significantly different (p-value > 0.05). The current research suggested the need for longitudinal study to explore the relationship of CO₂ with students’ performance inside the classrooms.