Overstuffed schoolbags should be avoided
Overstuffed school bags have been a huge curse for children should be avoided. Despite parents' best efforts to protect their children from getting hurt, one of the greatest sources of potential injury which often goes unnoticed is the schoolbags.
IT TAKES up all his energy before my six-year old son reaches school in the morning. Jaison has to carry a three kilogram load on his back everyday. He is in Class I and his body weight is just 24 kilogram.
On a working day, he needs to ferry nine text books and eight notebooks along with a pencil box besides a Tiffin box and a half-litre water bottle back and forth. The school building is also four-storeyed on which top floor he has to reach before the assembly time. It is almost a hectic schedule from bed to bathroom, from reading room to kitchen, from kitchen to van stand and from school gate to classroom.
Total number of school text books is 12 and that of notebooks is 14. As experts recommended, a child’s schoolbag should not weigh more than ten per cent of his body weight. For my ward, the ideal weight is just a little more than two kg which is far behind what he actually puts on his back daily.
Children between the ages of six and 14 are typically in their formative ages. At this stage the body's vital organs are not fully developed and are therefore more vulnerable to injury. The heavy book loads that children are subjected to carry lead to physical stress and poor posture, which may have repercussions on spine health.
The school bag carried by children everyday causes pain and fatigue to children. Children carrying this kind of weight can develop serious back pain and other problems that can require treatment. To manage the load, children sometimes arch their backs or lean forward, causing them to develop poor posture as they grow. Wearing a backpack on one shoulder alone can also cause the child to lean to one side to compensate for the extra weight, resulting in an asymmetrical spine, back pain, and a strained shoulder and neck.
Bags in the good old days were lighter because education was not that complex, and there were not so many extracurricular activities available. We can't reduce educational standards or deprive children of the modern education but efforts from teachers, school managements, and parents can help to a great extent. Schools may provide lockers to the students as a storage space to lighten the load of books and textbooks.
Overstuffed school bags which have always been a huge curse for children should be avoided. Despite parents' best efforts to protect their children from getting hurt, one of the greatest sources of potential injury which often goes unnoticed is the schoolbags. Sometimes, students may have to pull such a bag over rough ground. They might also have to lift it up stairs and on and off public transport. All of these actions impact normal posture and could be problematic in the long run.
An average school day consists of seven to eight periods, usually of different subjects. Each subject requires the child to carry a textbook and several notebooks. Added to the several kilograms of books and notebooks are lunchboxes and water bottles. Children end up carrying huge burdens on their backs, and it is no wonder that so many of them have aching backs and shoulders. Lifting heavy burdens for a long time or distance isn't good for anyone, least of all children.
An average school day consists of seven to eight periods, usually of different subjects. Each subject requires the child to carry a textbook and several notebooks. Added to the several kilograms of books and notebooks are lunchboxes and water bottles. Children end up carrying huge burdens on their backs, and it is no wonder that so many of them have aching backs and shoulders. Lifting heavy burdens for a long time or distance isn't good for anyone, least of all children.
The school bag carried by children everyday causes pain and fatigue to children. Children carrying this kind of weight can develop serious back pain and other problems that can require treatment. To manage the load, children sometimes arch their backs or lean forward, causing them to develop poor posture as they grow. Wearing a backpack on one shoulder alone can also cause the child to lean to one side to compensate for the extra weight, resulting in an asymmetrical spine, back pain, and a strained shoulder and neck.
Bags in the good old days were lighter because education was not that complex, and there were not so many extracurricular activities available. We can't reduce educational standards or deprive children of the modern education but efforts from teachers, school managements, and parents can help to a great extent. Schools may provide lockers to the students as a storage space to lighten the load of books and textbooks.
School management may keep a set of textbooks at schools, which can be shared by groups of students. Provision of safe drinking water and hygienic food in the school canteens instead of allowing them to carry these from home is required to be arranged. Teachers may be asked to plan ahead and inform students when texts are not required for lessons so that they don’t carry unnecessary loads.
Homework is only a re-enforcement of what is being done in school and if it is well planned then children don’t need to carry loads of books back home. The school syllabus and time table may be designed so as to reduce burden on the small children. Minimum subjects, minimum textbooks and minimum notebooks may be recommended considering the over burden on children which are not commensurate to their age and body weight. Lighter bags may be recommended uniformly by the schools. Students bodies and government have to pay due attention to these issues which are seemingly small but indeed a big one as far as the future generation is concerned.
All over the world, parents, doctors, and educationists are worried about the weight that children have to carry and the effect it has on their backs, shoulders, and general health. Children have to bear heavy bags supposedly to get a brighter future. In fact heavy bags are symbols of great pressure put by the society on those innocent children. However, they are too young to bear it. The children are also the most tired in the world. Apart from playtime, there is so much homework waiting for them every day. They have also to attend the private tutor for at least two hours a day. That our ‘little emperors’ are leading a difficult life amid hectic schedule is atrocious and ironical.
Homework is only a re-enforcement of what is being done in school and if it is well planned then children don’t need to carry loads of books back home. The school syllabus and time table may be designed so as to reduce burden on the small children. Minimum subjects, minimum textbooks and minimum notebooks may be recommended considering the over burden on children which are not commensurate to their age and body weight. Lighter bags may be recommended uniformly by the schools. Students bodies and government have to pay due attention to these issues which are seemingly small but indeed a big one as far as the future generation is concerned.
All over the world, parents, doctors, and educationists are worried about the weight that children have to carry and the effect it has on their backs, shoulders, and general health. Children have to bear heavy bags supposedly to get a brighter future. In fact heavy bags are symbols of great pressure put by the society on those innocent children. However, they are too young to bear it. The children are also the most tired in the world. Apart from playtime, there is so much homework waiting for them every day. They have also to attend the private tutor for at least two hours a day. That our ‘little emperors’ are leading a difficult life amid hectic schedule is atrocious and ironical.
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.its true and i think the state govt and central govt must act immediate solution to reduce such huge burden other wise its look like a training to becom "COOLIE" therefore govt must take it a serious issue to tackle the bag load to small kids upto HSSC students in India
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