Bhaktapur: Pre-school kids now can have loads of fun as they go to learn; they don’t need to carry heavy sachels on their backs. And for Grade I-XII students, a standard weight for bags has been prescribed. The move is sure to earn accolades from school-goers and parents alike.

A committee formed under the Department of Education to determine new standards for institutional schools has proposed that pre-primary children should not carry bags to schools and fixed the maximum weight of bags primary and secondary schoolchildren carry.

Weight of school bags and number of textbooks students carry to school have always been a major concern in view of possibility of schoolchildren acquiring backache as they grow, but no substantial measure had been taken so far. Experts say schoolchildren are carrying avoidable excessive load in their school bags and suggest that heavy school bags can result in spinal abnormalities, including disfiguring curvatures known as scoliosis.

With today’s proposal, parents also can soon heave a sigh of relief.

Nirmala Koirala, a parent of a kindergarten pupil, says her child has to carry as many as 14 books (and notebooks) to school everyday. “It’s overload for a five-and-a-half-year-old kid, and he cannot carry his bag on his own. I have to carry the bag all the way to school,” says Koirala. “I hope now my kid, and myself, will be relieved of the burden.”

As per the committee’s proposal, the maximum weight of school bags should be 4 kg for Grade I-V, 6 kg for Grade VI-VIII and 8 kg for students above Grade IX. However, the committee, which plans to submit its proposal to the Ministry of Education for approval in a few days, has stopped short of explaining whether its prescribed weight includes water bottle, tiffin box and other stuff students are asked to carry. The committee has also decided to propose the maximum distance students have to cover while reaching the school on buses.

Some lessons parents should learn
> Choose a bag that is ideal to the body size of the student. The bag should not be wider than the child.

> Ask the child to wear both shoulder straps to properly distribute the weight of the backpack. A bag with only one strap might cause shoulder, back and neck injury due to improper weight distribution

> Avoid carrying backpacks with loose shoulder straps. Tighten shoulder straps and use waist strap if it is provided

> Always organise bag contents. Refrain from carelessly stuffing things inside the bag

> Organise items to ensure that the weight is distributed properly

> It is better to invest on a good quality bag than to repent later for children’s health problems.

> Choose a bag with a padded area that touches the back

> Ask the child to bend at the knees when picking up the backpack and lift properly

Travel
Grade Max distance
> I-V 10 km (in Valley), 15 km (outside Valley)
> Above VI 18 km (in Valley), 25 km (outside Valley)

source: The Himalayan Times, 3 October 2012