Pune students carry school bags weighing 4 kg to 7.5 kg
School bags were found to be heaviest in many of the private schools. A Class 6 student from a school in Shivajinagar was found to carry a bag as heavy as 7.5-8 kg on an average. On the other hand, bags in government schools weighed comparatively less, for instance between 4 kg and 5 kg in municipal schools at Kothrud.
Day in and day out, an average school-going child in the city carries a bag stuffed with two tiffins, heavy water bottles, stationery, extra textbooks and notebooks.
A random survey of 50 school going children from across the city by an HT team found that the weight of school bags ranged from 4.3 kilogrammes to 7.5 kilogrammes on an average day. A majority of these students were found to be carrying weight, exceeding the norms set by the state government. This weight was largely due to notebooks and tiffin boxes.
On July 21, 2015, the Maharashtra government issued a GR (government resolution) specifying that the weight of the school bags should not be more than 10 per cent of a student’s weight.
School bags were found to be heaviest in many of the private schools. A Class 6 student from a school in Shivajinagar was found to carry a bag as heavy as 7.5-8 kg on an average.
On the other hand, bags in government schools weighed comparatively less, for instance between 4 kg and 5 kg in municipal schools at Kothrud.
Many students revealed that they either carried large tiffin boxes or two boxes to suffice for the long hours at school. “There are various activities planned throughout the day and by the end of the day, just one meal during recess isn’t enough. I often get hungry after the sports classes, so my mother gives me two lunch boxes,” said 12-year-old Smita Deshpande.
She added that many of her friends carried two tiffins and more notebooks, because of tuition classes post school hours.
Shabana Shaikh, headmistress of Sulochana Natu Vidya Mandir, Shivajinagar, said,“We are working on reducing the weight of the school bag, but we need support from parents too. After all, parents know what students are keeping in their school bags.”
Jyotsna Shinde, Pimpri Chinchwad municipal corporation’s education officer, said that they have initiated the ‘No School Bag Day’ on the first and third Saturday of every month in civic-run primary schools and have received a good response.
City doctors have reported cases of back pain, bad posture and lordosis (humped like back or curved spine) caused by the burden of the school backpack in children below the age of 10.
Many children in fact fail to report their back pain and the cases are also under reported because mothers often ignore the severity of the problem.
Dr Prashant Udavant, senior paediatrician, Ruby Hall Clinic and member Indian Association of Paediatrics, said, “We paediatricians have always stressed on the need to reduce the weight of school bags. This could be done in various ways by adjusting the timetable and giving less homework, among other techniques.”
Paediatricians were of the opinion that school bags for children below 10 years should not be above four to five kg in weight.
(With inputs from Nozia Sayyed)
Steps to take
1.Notebooks for subjects like drawing, computers, physical activities, should be kept in the school only
2.Use only 100 pages notebooks
3.Parents should not put unnecessary things in school bags
4.Parents should purchase lightweight school bags
5.Schools should periodically monitor the weight of school bags and take necessary action
School initiatives have met with partial success
Prachi Bari
Schools in the city have undertaken various initiatives to reduce the weight of school bags, but these have met with partial success because of poor implementation.
Kapish Dubey is a very happy six-and-a-half-year-old student. “I carry one diary, two books, tiffin and a water bottle to school,” he beams. Rest all of his books are at school. Kapish is a student of Phoenix World School in Kharadi and his mother Khushboo Dubey feels happy to share that most of the books are kept in lockers inside the classrooms, thus, reducing the burden of carrying all the books and notebooks. “Homework is written in the diary and accordingly, we can keep a book or two at home,” she said.
For Madhavi Reddy, it was a relief when the government announced reduction of the weight of the school bags, but her son Siddhant Golhar, a Class 6 student of a school in Ashoknagar, prefers to get all the books back home for studying.
“Although the school has space to keep all the books for the nine classes scheduled throughout the day, he tends to bring them all back home. For each subject they have too many books, class work, homework, workbooks and my son feels that he simply doesn’t have the time to go through the books in school, hence, he usually carries nine notebooks and three textbooks, plus a water bottle and lunch box,” she said.
Another parent, Nandini Bhuwad, changed her son Paritosh’s school because the earlier school compulsorily made him bring all the books and climb up to two floors with it every day. Now, her son studies in a school in Aundh where they only ask students to carry books according to the day timetable giving them breaks for library and physical training (PT). This makes his school bag lighter.
Sulabha Shinde is the principal of Ahilyadevi Secondary School in the city and she has introduced novel ideas to keep the school bags lighter. “We have nine classes per day, including PT, and we have made changes in the subjects taught, like one subject two classes, and also the students have to share the textbook and on rotation basis, every student brings only one textbook to class, thus reducing the weight of the books. Each student learns to share and study together with this concept,” she added.
Govt Resolution Ineffective?
Shrinivas Deshpande
Despite the state government resolution (GR) which stated that the weight of school bags should not be more than 10 per cent of a student’s weight, many school institutions have failed to implement it.
The Maharashtra government had published a government resolution (GR) on July 21, 2015, strictly mentioning that school bags should not be more than 10 per cent of a student’s weight and for this the government had issued some guidelines for all school teachers and parents.
The GR stated, “All schools should review the timetable to minimise the number of subjects scheduled daily. Parents should not keep extra books, notebooks in the bag. Schools should not make it a compulsion for students to carry notebooks with more than 200 pages. School should focus more on e-learning methods.”
According to the guidelines of the Bombay High Court, the state government had appointed a committee under the directorate of education (primary) on November 25, 2014, to suggest solutions to reduce the weight of school bags. The committee discussed the issue with parents, teachers and many education experts and called for suggestions.
The committee studied the subject in depth and came to know that the weight of the school bag is about 20-30 per cent more than the body weight of the students. Because of this, around 60 per cent students below the age of 10 suffer from orthopaedic as well as stress- induced ailments.
The committee also found that the weight of school bags of students in urban areas is much higher than rural areas. The committee’s findings also show that the weight of the bags is higher in private schools as compared to government-run schools.
According to the Indian council of medical research (ICMR), school bags should not be more than 10 per cent of a student’s weight. On the basis of this, the committee recommended suggestions to reduce the weight of school bags which should be binding for all education institutions.