Overstuffed Schoolbags Should be Avoided

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.

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.