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Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
How schools are being built for extreme heat
When prize-winning architect Francis Kere was growing up in Burkina Faso he spent his schooldays in a gloomy classroom that was so stifling he says it would have been better suited to making bread than educating children. Years later, while studying abroad, Kere returned to his home village to build a light and airy school where children could learn in comfort despite temperatures that can hit 45 degrees Celsius (113 F). But the Berlin-based architect did not use aircon. Instead he incorporated a host of cooling features into Gando Primary School that he has since applied to projects across Africa. Kere, who won architecture's highest honour of the Pritzker Prize in 2022, is among architects pioneering sustainable school designs for a warming planet. 'My own school was so hot it was hard to concentrate,' he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. 'So I wanted to build a school that would be comfortable and inspiring for children.' Studies from Brazil to Vietnam show heat significantly impacts learning. In a report last year, the World Bank warned that climate change was threatening educational attainment, creating an 'economic time-bomb'. Experts say classrooms should be no hotter than 26 C. In Gando, villagers were initially shocked when Kere announced he would build the school from clay, but the material is a natural temperature regulator, absorbing heat during the day and releasing it at night. Concrete and plate-glass may look contemporary, but Kere said they make buildings hot, necessitating air conditioners. This creates a vicious circle. Energy-intensive air conditioners, which expel hot air outdoors, contribute to global warming, which then fuels demand for more aircon. Instead, Kere uses passive cooling techniques. Gando's classrooms have openings at both ends, generating cross-ventilation. An overhanging roof elevated above a perforated lower roof improves air circulation and shades the facade. In Kenya, Kere's design for a college campus was inspired by termite mounds, which use natural ventilation to regulate interior temperatures. Low openings on the buildings suck in fresh air while terracotta-coloured towers let hot air escape. Some 8,000 km (5,000 miles) away in northwest India's Thar desert, temperatures reached 48 C this year. Vegetation is sparse, and sandstorms are common. The Rajkumari Ratnavati Girls School, a large oval sandstone edifice rising from the Rajasthan desert, was designed by New York architect Diana Kellogg. The building's orientation and shape allow prevailing winds to flow around the school, while lime plaster on the interior walls has an additional cooling effect. Lattice walls, inspired by traditional Indian jali screens, accelerate airflow due to a phenomenon called the Venturi effect. The school also runs off solar power and harvests enough rainwater for its needs. Temperatures inside are up to 10 C cooler than outside, contributing to high attendance, Kellogg said. Like Kere, she believes good architecture can encourage social change. Rajasthan has the lowest female literacy rate in India, but Kellogg said the school's monumental scale sends a strong message about the value of girls. 'It has enhanced their standing in the community,' she said. 'The girls take pride in attending and call it 'The College'. When I visit, the boys say, 'Build one for us'.' Even temperate countries are looking at how to cool schools as climate change brings more frequent heatwaves. Britain has said new school buildings should be future-proofed for a 4 C temperature rise. Its draughty Victorian-era schools with big windows and high ceilings are better suited to heatwaves than newer schools designed to keep heat in. But education does not just happen indoors. Playgrounds are also important for children's development, and many cities are trying to make them greener. Urban areas can be 4 C to 6 C warmer than rural areas, but planting trees reduces temperatures through shading and the release of water vapour. Paris aims to convert all asphalted schoolyards to green oases by 2050. Another solution involves cool paint. While countries like Greece have long painted building roofs white, scientists are now working on high-tech coatings that could potentially outperform air conditioners. From geothermal cooling technology to smart glass, engineers are developing increasingly sophisticated systems and products to control temperatures. But German architect Anna Heringer said sustainable architecture means working with local materials. Heringer, who has designed schools from Bangladesh to Ghana, is known for building with mud – 'a low-tech material with high-tech performance. 'If you ask farmers, they will tell you a mud house is cool in summer,' Heringer said, adding that clay balances humidity, which exacerbates physical discomfort in extreme heat and cold. 'Architects often try to be way too technical, but sometimes the solutions are in front of us.' In Tanzania, villagers told her they built concrete homes for status, but went to mud huts to sleep at night. Contrary to popular perception, clay walls do not dissolve in the rain, Heringer said. There are simple techniques to prevent erosion, and a natural crystallization process strengthens the walls over time. 'Clay has been branded as a weak material, but in every culture and climate we have mud buildings that are hundreds of years old,' Heringer said, adding that schools she built 20 years ago have required little maintenance. Some classrooms in her schools have solar-powered fans, but there is no aircon. Not only does it consume energy, but constantly switching between heat and cold can harm children's health, she said. Kere – whose international commissions include Benin's new parliament building and the upcoming Las Vegas Museum of Art – said his studio gets many inquiries about building with clay and passive cooling. 'There's a big shift,' he said. 'This would never have happened just a few years ago.' (Reporting by Emma Batha;
The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
Gujarat's Banni Grasslands ready to host cheetahs, say officials
The Banni Grasslands in Gujarat, the largest such expanse in the Indian subcontinent and one of the 10 sites selected for cheetah rehabilitation in the country, is now fully prepared to host the big cats, officials said on Wednesday (July 16, 2025). Jaipal Singh, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), Gujarat, told PTI that a breeding centre for cheetahs has been set up and efforts are underway to further enhance the prey population of chital and sambar. "We are ready with everything, including quarantine and soft release bomas [enclosures]. However, the National Tiger Conservation Authority and the Cheetah Project Steering Committee will decide when the animals will be brought here," he said. Mr. Singh said a 600-hectare enclosure has been developed, the herbivore population has been increased, and facilities such as CCTV monitoring and a dedicated veterinary centre have been established. Fences have been installed to prevent the infiltration of other large carnivores into the cheetah enclosures. Veterinarians have also been trained at Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park, the first site in India to host cheetahs translocated from Africa, he added. According to the plan to introduce cheetahs in the Banni Grasslands, the natural habitat preferences of cheetahs in Africa include grasslands, savannahs and scrublands, and the habitat conditions in Banni closely match these. Vantara, a Jamnagar-based rescue, conservation and rehabilitation facility of the Reliance Foundation, posted on Instagram that in collaboration with the Gujarat Forest Department, it has reintroduced spotted deer into the Banni Grasslands. "The introduction of spotted deer marks a key step in restoring ecological balance in Banni. As a committed partner, Vantara supports this effort with scientific expertise, veterinary care and technical support, working alongside the government to protect India's natural heritage," it said. Mr. Singh said the move is part of broader efforts to increase the prey population in the arid grassland landscape. Officials said that cheetahs are likely to be introduced in the Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh before they are sent to the Bunni Grasslands. The State government officially declared Veerangana Durgavati a tiger reserve in September 2023. Located about 20 kilometres from Bhopal, it spans 2,339 square kilometres and covers parts of Narsinghpur, Sagar and Damoh districts. An NTCA team reviewed the preparations in the tiger reserve in June. Thereafter, officials said, cheetahs will be introduced into the Bunni grasslands in Gujarat's Kutch district and then in the Shahgarh Bulge region in Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan. The 10 potential sites listed in the action plan for cheetah introduction are: Guru Ghasidas National Park in Chhattisgarh; Banni grasslands in Gujarat; Dubri Wildlife Sanctuary, Sanjay National Park, Bagdara Wildlife Sanctuary, Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary (now Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve) and Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh; Desert National Park and Shahgarh grasslands in Rajasthan and Kaimur Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh. Seventy years after cheetahs went extinct in India, the government launched the Project Cheetah to establish a sustainable population of the big cat in the country. As part of the reintroduction effort, 20 African cheetahs were brought to Kuno National Park: eight from Namibia in September 2022 and 12 from South Africa in February 2023. Eleven of them have survived, including two that were transferred to Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary in April. Since the introduction of African cheetahs, 26 cubs have been born in India, of which 17 have survived.
Scroll.in
2 hours ago
- Scroll.in
AAI JE answer key 2025 released; submit objections by July 18
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has released the provisional answer key for the Junior Executive (Air Traffic Control) position under Advertisement No. 02/2025/CHQ. Applicants can download the answer key from the official website Candidates can submit suggestions, if any, by July 18, 2025. 'Objection Management Link for the Computer Based Test (CBT) held on 14.07.2025 will be available on AAI website from 16.07.2025 (11:00 AM) to 18.07.2025 (11:55 PM) for all the candidates who have appeared in the CBT to raise objections to the questions/ answer keys,' reads the notification. The computer-based test was conducted on July 14, 2025. The recruitment drive aims to fill 306 vacancies. Here's the official notification. Steps to download JE answer key 2025
