Dear Editor,
Region Six Chairman David Armogan recently made mention of the heat in schools causing children to perspire profusely and attributing it to the hot period at this time of year. Perhaps true.
Editor, while it is indeed hot at this time of year the oven-like heat in schools has to do with the visionless and ignorant decision to build new schools with low roofs. Changes were made to the high roofs of old schools as well, lowering them and thus trapping hot air.
Schools, houses, all buildings in general in the colonial days were built with high ‘V’ roofs with jalousies, so that when the hot air rose and there was lots of space overhead it escaped, thus cooling the space.
That was basic commonsense – little science applied – to keep buildings cool. What we have now are designers and architects oblivious to the reason and desire for such roofs. This oversight has created the great heat.
Likewise there were reasons why houses were built on posts. With the cost of electricity used to cool places prohibitive or unavailable it makes sense to adopt natural and cheap methods to make the environment cool and conducive to learning.
Since I am on schools, why do parents still have to provide furniture for new entrants at hefty and unaffordable cost?
Yours faithfully,
M Sookraj
