New school design could revolutionise classrooms
KUNDA DIXIT in BARDIYA
When Sonam Wangchuk first came to this western Tarai district to look at schools last winter, he was surprised to see the classrooms half empty. When he entered the schools, it was clear why: the rooms were just too cold. He was determined to do something about it.
Wangchuk is from Ladakh and has been working to improve the curriculum and classroom infrastructure in the harsh climate of the trans-Himalayan region of India where the temperature in winter often drops to 10 degrees below zero. But the classrooms stay a toasty 17 degrees in the daytime.
"The problem in the Nepal Tarai is a bit different," Wangchuk says. "You have a temperature variation of 44 degrees in summer and nearly zero in winter. This poses a much bigger challenge." As an engineer, Wangchuk came up with a new design that oriented the classroom to face the sun in winter, and with awnings that shade the windows in summer. The walls are made of compressed mud blocks that retain heat and insulate the rooms.
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