The Progressive School Vol 02 Issue 04

ERGONOMICS
HOW SEATING ERGONOMICS AFFECT LEARNING
John Mathew
Director, Dovetail Furniture Pvt Ltd.
‘Future Learning Environment’ aims to build awareness among Indian educators on the importance of
planning for ergonomics, multi-functionality, interactivity, amidst other emerging trends.
In modern times, we’ve come to
associate ergonomics with comfort
and convenience.Ergonomics for
office spaces is something that is always
spoken about and given importance to,
due to long seating duration and the
ill-effects it could have on the health of
employees. Similarly, as with classroom
furniture, ergonomic furniture must refer
to that which is not only comfortable
but healthy and functional for students.
School children have the most fluctuating
body dimensions. But in most elementary
schools, children sit at chair-desk
combinations which are not suitable for
their body height.
John Mathew is an alumni
from National Institute of Design,
Ahmedabad. He is the Co-Founder and
Director of Dovetail Furniture Private
Limited, and is also a Dean and head
of the Industrial Design Department
at Srishti School of Art, Design and
Technology. John Mathew has over
30 years of experience with design,
maufacturing and teaching and is
considered a leader in the design field.
As a result of longer periods spent
seated, often in furniture that is not
ergonomically designed, children
have become increasingly physically
inactive and are sitting more and more.
Conventional chairs have a rigid seat
that inclines backwards and merges
into a seating hollow, causing lack of
blood circulation, rounding of the back,
tense shoulder, neck, and back muscles,
spinal cord to be pressed to one side and
constriction of the digestive organs.
Ergonomically designed furniture
allows for comfortable and flexible seating,
enabling children to concentrate and learn
better. So, it is important for schools to
wake up and do what it takes to ensure
good ergonomics in classrooms which
in turn ensures good health and better
learning. Children range wildly in height,
size and strength. Classroom seating
should promote healthy postures from a
young age, especially since young bodies
develop rapidly. Children spend long hours
in a classroom and having a good posture
helps them concentrate well since they are
not being distracted by discomfort which
can arise due to various factors such as
strain and muscle exertion.
Even with furniture designed for
ergonomics, proper use requires attention
to posture, as well.Seated in the chair,
the back should be at a 90-degree angle
to the thighs and fully supported by the
chair back, both feet should be firmly on
the floor, etc. Hence, there is an urgent
need to allow for sitting with movement,
for which ergonomic designs like Flexi
chair – changing seat inclination, rocking
mechanism – swivel chair with height
adjustment must be suggested for school
children. Also it has become a necessary
step to provide adjustability in elementary
classrooms due to the ranging size of the
students.
Furniture must fit the children, allow
movement and hence invariably encourage
a good posture. Movement plays an
important part in seating. A school in which
movement is supported and encouraged
has a positive effect on the learning ability
and attentiveness of the children.
42 THE PROGRESSIVE SCHOOL JUL-AUG-SEP 2018
www.progressiveschool.in