Primary education is essential for children in most countries; thisbasic education is compulsory for all children and requires them to spendseveral hours in schools. Due to this, it is important to look into the schoolenvironment, in order to know what might affect students’ learning and health.Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) relates to the conditions that exist withina building; these include indoor air quality (IAQ), thermal conditions, visual(e.g. lighting) and aural (e.
g. noise) comfort; and their potential effects onbuilding occupants (Jung et al. 2014; Ramos et al. 2015; Sakellaris et al.2016; Al-Awadi 2017). These factors can act independently or interact withother factors that constitute IEQ (Weschler 2011). For example, studies have shownthe effect of temperature, humidity and air velocity on volatile organiccompounds’ (VOCs) emission (Wolkoff 1998; Yang et al.
2001; Wiglusz et al.2002; Zhang et al. 2007; Huang et al. 2016). According to Cartieaux et al.
(2011), a combination of factors (physical, chemical and biological) may affectclassroom IEQ. The site of a school is another important factoraffecting school IEQ. Godoi and colleagues in their Brazilian study reported ahigher prevalence of particulate matters in urban schools due to vehicularemissions from highways nearby (Godoi et al. 2013). Outdoor pollutants may findtheir way indoors through doors, windows, as well as through cracks and otheropenings in the building envelope.
In some cases, the level of pollution insideschools has been found to be higher than the levels outdoor (Pegas et al. 2010;Leung 2015). In addition to outdoor environment, factors affecting IEQ includefurnishing used in the building, heating ventilation and air conditioning(HVAC) systems, other equipment such as printers, and human activities (Pasanen1995; Wu et al. 2007; Loftness et al. 2007; Zhong et al.
2017).Ventilation isimportant for a favorable IEQ since it dilutes and removes pollutants, odorsand excessive moisture, while providing occupants with fresh air to breathe(Wargocki et al. 2000; WHO 2009; MacNaughton et al. 2015; Sharpe et al. 2015;Rim et al. 2015; Patton et al. 2016). According to WHO (2009), ventilation isachieved through the installation of ventilation systems, which could be throughnatural ventilation, mechanical ventilation, or hybrid/mixed-mode ventilation.
Ventilation is also important for thermal comfort with some studies showing anincrease in ventilation to associate with reduced indoor temperature (Dadhigh2015; Sekhar 2016). Improving ventilation reduces indoor CO2 levels(Rosbach et al. 2013; Heudorf et al. 2007). Ventilation rate recommendation forclassrooms in the U.S is about 7.1 l/sper person (ASHRAE standard 62.1) while that for Finnish school is 6 l/s per person (National Building Codeof Finland 2005; Ministry of Social Affairs and Health 2015) Although there isno specific recommendation for classroom ventilation rate in the Nationalbuilding code of Nigeria (2006), windows are recommended to be constructeddirectly opposite each other in naturally ventilated building to allow forcross ventilation while cooling system is also encouraged.
Ventilation has beenfound to be inadequate in many classrooms (Shendell et al. 2004a; Godwin & Batterman 2007; Haverinen-Shaughnessy et al. 2011;Ferreira & Cardoso 2014; Madureira et al. 2015a; Madureira et al. 2016).This may be due to overcrowding, ventilation system type, climatic condition,and school building type (Al-Rashidi et al. 2012; Fadeyi et al. 2014; Ferreira& Cardoso 2014; Madureira et al.
2015a). This paper evaluate the effects of indoor environment onelementary school students by examining the relationship between buildingcharacteristics, measured indoor environmental quality parameters, andstudents’ health and learning outcomes. It summarizes theresults from elementary school studies done in Finland, United States ofAmerica and Nigeria.
