Students relieved of bag burden

Hyderabad: Providing a major relief to students from carrying heavy loads of books to school, the Telangana government on Tuesday issued guidelines on the weight of schoolbags, which needs to be implemented from the current academic year.

The weight of the school bags of students of first and second classes should not be more than 1.5 kilos, including the textbooks and notebooks and for classes 3 to 5 it should be about 2 to 3 kilos. Similarly, for seventh and eighth class it should not be more than 4 kilos, for ninth 4.5 kilos and for tenth class students the maximum weight should not be more than 5 kilos.

In the absence of guidelines so far, the children were carrying bags of about 6 to 12 kilos at primary level and 12 to 17 kilos at high school level resulting in adverse effect on their physical posture and faced the possibility of damage to their vertebral column and knees.

The consequences could be much serious if they have to carry this heavy load in multi-storied school buildings.
The new guideline order was given on the basis of survey conducted in a few districts by the School Education Department.

Experts and academicians say that schools should focus on making the children understand concepts rather than just memorise the chapters from books. Nominated member of Rajya Sabha and the famous author of ‘Malgudi Days’ R K Narayan who delivered only one speech in 1990s spoke about weight of school bags and said, “A child should not carry more than one fifth of his body weight on his back, to keep the spine and skeletal structure strong and upright.”

Appreciating the decision of the government, eminent educationist Chukka Ramaiah said Kothari Commission which had looked into the issue four decades ago had observed that burden on the minds is important and not of the books. He advised to encourage students to analyse an issue but not to memorise and answer the questions. Principal of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Sainikpuri, Jyothi Aparna said that bringing down the burden of school bags was a welcome step. The students need not carry all the books every day to school. The parents should ensure that the students carry books as per timetable, she said.

In fact, paediatricians have been opposing the heavy burden of school bags. Dr Hima Bindu Singh, president, Indian Paediatric Association, says, “We at Niloufer Hospital have been treating a number of school-going children suffering from back and neck pain.

This to a large extent can be attributed to two reasons -- heavy bags and not having proper back support in school furniture.” Orthopaedician Dr Manohar says, “If children keep lugging heavy loads it could cause spinal deformities. It could alter the posture and bring in changes in shoulder, neck, trunk and lower limb.”