Ashok Sharma
Despite the tall claims of the government of taking several measures to reduce burden of school bags on the young children and making learning a fun, it is not an uncommon sight to see small kids carrying heavy school bags on their tender and delicate shoulders.Ideally,a filled in backpack carried by a child should not weigh more than 10% of the weight of the child.For example, a child weighing 30 kg should ideally carry around 2.5 to 3.0 kg bag containing books, notebooks, lunchbox,water bottle, pencil box etc.But children are made to carry much heavier bags which cause stress on the spine, back and shoulder resulting in muscular pain, fatigue and pain.To carry a heavy bag a child has to lean forward, which leads to bad posture.The warning signals in children triggered by heavy school bag include tingling and numbness in arms, pain while carrying heavy bags and breathing problems due to pressure on lungs.Children carrying bags having one strip only are vulnerable to even more severe risks.Carrying a one strip bag may put weight one shoulder causing sideways deviation of the spine leading to longlasting backaches and spine damage.In other words, a heavy bag puts the child’s health and physical development at risk and can hamper his/her overall growth.
Parents and school authorities must realise the serious consequences of forcing the small children to carry the heavy school bags and take urgent measures to ensure their good health and proper development.For this purpose, the parents should buy comfortable bags having padded and broad straps for their child.They should ensure that the bag they buy for their child should not have only one strip and it should be appropriate to the child’s age and size.It should have a moulded frame and adjustable hip strap so that the weight of the bag rests on the child’ s pelvic region instead of shoulder and spine.Canvas bags, being lighter should be preferred to leather bags.The backpack is an ideal choice and it should have separate compartments for lunch box, water bottle, pencil box etc.Heavy items should be packed in the outer pockets.Unnecessary items such as extra books, notebooks, sports kit should be avoided.
The government and teachers too can contribute a lot in reducing the burden on students.Bagless schooling should be introduced for students reading in nursery, KG, and first standard.Government and schools need to make arrangements for lockers in the schools and students upto the 2nd standard should not be allowed to bring their books to the schools. Either homework should not be alloted or it should be completed in the school itself. Children reading in upper primary and secondery classes should also be asked to keep their extra books and notebooks in the lockers in the schools. Timetable should be framed in such a manner that ,students are mot required to bring all the books and notebooks everyday. Students should not be penalised for failing to bring textbooks as what they generrally do is to bring all textbooks everyday to mini mise the chances of being punished. Publishers should be asked to use thinner and lighter paper to publish textbooks especially for Pre Primary and lower lower Primary classes.Paperback books need to be preferred to hardbound books for higher classes.Children should be encouraged and motivated to devote more time in the laboratory and library to develop the habit of learning by doing and reading.
Focus should be given on developing the thinking and analysing ability of the students rather than their capacity to memorise facts by rote learning.It is certainly better to load the students with ideas than loading them with books and notebooks. Juvenile Justice Board should ensure that its directions are implemented by the government run and private schools in letter and spirit and those violating the directions need to be awarded deterrent punishment to give justice to the innocent children.NGOs working for the welfare of children too need to play an active role for protecting the rights of children and ensure that their childhood is not snatched by the over ambitious parents and overzealous teachers and they grow into intellectually sound and physically fit adults.
(The author is serving as lecturer in English, Govt.HSS Barolla, Udhampur)
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