The burden of school bags…

It was so good to pay heed to the news that school children are bravely questioning the other side, irrespective of their positions. We have seen in Madhya Pradesh newspapers how one boy boldly wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about their hardships during his visit to their town and got a positive response.

In another incident two students hailing from Chandapur called the press to reveal the burden of bags on their backs. The two kids tried their best to reduce the weight of their bags that between five and seven kgs. But the principal’s cold attitude towards their appeal propelled them to take an eyebrow raising action. It is really an appreciable change in those around 12 years as they become good and responsible citizens. The school.

which has to play a vital role of as an institution for transformation, had become an epicentre for creating avoidable stressful situations. We all know that the Yashpal Committee (1992-93) strongly recommended reduction of pernicious mechanical load on the children as it was promoting unwanted changes. It contended that rather than spreading knowledge the overload was merely passing on subject information.

Further an improper way of preparing syllabus and textbooks were leading to curriculum load and increasing the number of books. It is shocking to notice that in Delhi nearly 60 percent of Under-10 school children suffer from orthopedic ailments due to overweight of school bags. Though the Maharashtra government had instructed all the managements to reduce the bag, managements turned a deaf ear. The guardians of the children were also unaware of the orders.

The children are experiencing hell on earth because of the bag-load of books on their backs. This is making them vulnerable to back pain, a fact established by study commissioned by the Indian Journal of Pediatric Association. Further it has warned that the overweight bag will bring changes in the angle of shoulder, neck, trunk, lower limb and affect overall posture of the body also. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) also explained that a heavy school bag will effect growth of the individual and adversely impact functioning of the lung.

The well-known child rights NGO “Uday” in collaboration with Fortis Hospital started an online campaign to lessen the burden of school bags with the slogan ‘save my back”. It is the opinion of the medical experts that carrying overweight school bags can cause “Kyphosis”-hunched back or spine bent forward and “Scoliosis”-spine bent sideways. So, it is very essential to instruct the schools to adhere to the Prof Yashpal Committee recommendations in letter and spirit.

The panel further stated that “There is no jurisdiction to for torturing the young children by compelling them to carry heavy bags of books every day. Text books should be treated as school property and there is need to purchase and carry them daily to homes. A separate time-table for the assignment of home work and for the use of textbooks and notebooks be prepared by the school and be made known to the children in advance.”

Unfortunately, this suggestion was thrown into the bin by managements. Kudos to the boys who represented their tribe and put forth hardships caused by bags. School managements should know the significance of William Butler Yeats remark “Education is not filling a pail but the lighting of a fire”. Could they?

By E Gajendranath Reddy