Abstract
Temperatures in Africa are expected to increase by the end of the century. Heat-related health impacts and perceived health symptoms are potentially a problem, especially in public schools with limited resources. Students (n = 252) aged ~14–18 years from eight high schools completed an hourly heat-health symptom log over 5 days. Data loggers measured indoor classroom temperatures. A high proportion of students felt tired (97.2%), had low concentration (96.8%) and felt sleepy (94.1%) during at least one hour on any day. There were statistically significant correlations, when controlling for school cluster effect and time of day, between indoor temperatures ≥32 °C and students who felt tired and found it hard to breathe. Consistently higher indoor classroom temperatures were observed in classrooms constructed of prefabricated asbestos sheeting with corrugated iron roof and converted shipping container compared to brick classrooms. Longitudinal studies in multiple seasons and different classroom building types are needed.
Highlights
Schoolchildren spend a significant portion of their time attending school and being indoors in school classrooms
This study focused on indoor classroom temperature and perceived heat-health risks, as has been done elsewhere [20,21] but never before in South Africa, as a simple and immediate first step towards providing information for evidence-based decision-making by teachers, principals and school managers to ensure appropriate school thermal comfort
We provided additional data on classroom temperatures in South Africa, the only other known study of its kind to do so in South Africa, and describe self-reported heat-health symptoms in relation to temperature. These data are important in light of climate change predictions for southern Africa and global warming leading to warmer temperatures and increased occurrence of heat waves
Summary
Schoolchildren spend a significant portion of their time attending school and being indoors in school classrooms. In South Africa, and likely in other developing countries [1], the majority of government-funded schools rely on natural ventilation for cooling when ambient temperatures are high. The class size is often relatively large (i.e., ~35–40 schoolchildren) leading to overcrowding and an increase of indoor classroom temperature from body heat. These two factors, when combined with high ambient temperatures (especially those temperatures experienced during summer months) can lead to very warm to extremely warm classroom temperatures in schools. The focus was on the perceived heat-related health of schoolchildren
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