A backpack with a heavy load hung around their shoulders, they lug it for hundreds of metres every day. As they reach the destination, their faces look jaded, their bodies spent. Well, these are not the soldiers scaling the high mountains to check the enemies across the border, but kids going to school. Unfortunately, they don’t look the children going to schools for learning, but those carrying the entire nation’s burden and their parents’ pricey dreams on their back.
The long-debated issue of heavy school bags has been settled, at least for now, with the Telangana government issuing guidelines on the weight of the books that children should carry according to their grade. Most schools have welcomed it and majority parents seem to have reluctantly accepted it, but a strict compliance with the norms is what is needed.
The ill-effects of the heavy bags on the tender shoulders is not unknown, but overzealous schools drilling only bookish information into the children is encouraged with the tacit approval of parents. Several doctors and NGOs working with the schoolchildren have been advocating against it.
In fact, last year, a survey conducted by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) revealed that 68% of the school-going children below 13 years of age suffer from back pain, and as they grow up, it may develop into a hunchback.
Serious spinal damage and back problems would haunt the children, the survey noted, who carry more than 45% of their weight on their backs. The Assocham’s Health Committee Chairman, B.K. Rao, in his report, said early slip disc, spondylitis, degeneration of the spine, regular back aches and postural scoliosis were some of the problems the children may face.
Venkataswamy, an orthopaedic surgeon at Adarsh Hospitals, Karimnagar, said apart from the effects on the spine, children go through musculoskeletal and psychological problems as well when they carry heavy bags.
“In the western countries, there are strict norms on the bag weight. Lesser books means there can be more focus on the much needed co-curricular activities,” said Dr. Venkatswamy, who spent more than a decade in England. According to the Children’s School Bag Act of 2006, the weight of the school bag should not cross 10% of the students’ weight, but these children have been forced to carry bags more than 50% of their weight. About 15 kg is the normal weight of a school bag of students from classes 8 to 10 in any private school.
Why do schools burden the kids as such? Narsi Reddy, president of the Telangana State United Teachers’ Federation (TS-UTF), said commercial motive was one of the reasons while a false notion created among parents by the private school lobby that more books mean better education was another.
“If the State government is serious about implementing its new norms, awareness has to be created among parents while being strict with the school managements,” he said, reminding that the government schoolchildren were thankfully spared from such burden.
The Maharashtra government had issued similar guidelines last year after the Bombay High Court directed it to lighten the school bags based on a PIL filed by a social activist. The government made it applicable to all the private schools, including the CBSE and ICSE schools. Also, the CBSE later issued several guidelines for its schools last year reducing the bag burden and also issuing norms on the homework to be given. The schools were made responsible for creating awareness among the children too.
