Opinion: Burden of school bag

As textbooks are prescribed for a number of years, they are passed on (or even sold at half rate) to students of the next batches for use. They are not for single-use

By KSS Seshan

The School Education Department of the Telangana government has come out with a unique proposal to reduce the weight of the school bag: bring down the thickness of the paper used in school textbooks. From the existing 90 gram per square metre, the paper thickness of the textbook, as per the proposal, is to be reduced to 70 g resulting in a reduction of around 25% of the weight of each book. This innovative proposal also is said to augur well as it would result in saving the environment besides cutting down the weight of the school bag.

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While the efforts of the School Education department are laudable, it seems without any rationale as a textbook with reduced thickness of its pages would not last with the constant thumbing of the little hands and survive the whole year of its use. As textbooks are prescribed for many years, they are passed on (or even sold at half rate) to students of the next batches for use. Therefore, they are not for single use. In fact, they are supposed to be useful for a few succeeding years. With depleted and thin papers, the books are sure to tear much before the examinations, the purpose for which they are meant. The quixotic idea of reducing the thickness of the paper, therefore, will not be a solution to reduce the burden of the school bag. A way out is absolutely necessary to find other means to mitigate this problem.

Years ago, RK Narayan, the renowned Indian writer in English well-known for his unforgettable fictional character “Swami” in Swami and Friends, as a member of the Rajya Sabha, made a spirited speech, the only occasion he spoke in the House, highlighting the heavy bag that the schoolchildren are made to carry and urged the government to do something to alleviate the burden of the school bag immediately. But alas, governments since then came and went but Narayan never had the gratification of seeing his passionate plea fulfilled. The weight of the school bag remained an enigma.

Too Weighty

Children from class III to X in the normal schools and up to Class XII in the integrated schools insist on carrying in their large backpack bags an elaborate ensemble of textbooks, notebooks, stationery items like pens, pencils, erasers, writing pads, whitepapers, scale, compass box, home assignment books, project workbooks, besides mandatory items like lunch box, snacks box, water bottle and many more. Games or sports items, musical instruments, storybooks, too get added to the existing weight of the bag. It is estimated that the weight of the bag that a class 5 student carries could be around 9 kg.

Students of higher classes like Std 8 to Std 10 carry between 10 kg and 12 kg. A desperate parent in a lighter vein pointed out to the writer once, “My son gets
hands-on experience and the skills to become a porter or Hamali with the kind of weight of the bag that he carries on his back every day to school”.

The delirious effects of the school bags on students are well-orchestrated and numerous: fatigue, muscle strain, back pain and poor body posture are some of them. It may lead to pain in the lower back and many such health issues. Child counsellors, psychologists and educational administrators have often highlighted that heavy school bags have negative consequences for the health and well-being of students in their formative and growing years. In many instances, children, due to the heavy load of bags they carry, developed hunch back later in life. That was precisely the reason why the Ministry of Education in its policy framework of 2020 made it clear that the total weight of the school bags should not be more than 10 per cent of a student’s body weight. But to date, the ministry has not initiated any step towards its implementation.

Role of Textbooks

A practical step to reduce the weight of the school bags seems to be to segregate the most needed and least wanted components of the school bags on a daily basis. The notebooks for example are the most needed ones in the school as notes and explanations are to be jotted down when the teacher teaches the lessons. But the prescribed textbooks are meant for the students to read, assimilate, comprehend and remember before they face the examinations, the questions of which are based on the prescribed lessons in the said textbooks. To understand the lessons in the textbooks, students have the help of the teachers who are expected to succinctly explain, analyse and elaborate on all the nuances of the lesson in the classroom. The teacher thus plays a pivotal role in contextualising the content and knowledge imbibed in the lesson with mastery and skill. The teacher unravels in understanding the lesson without whom students will be at bay to comprehend the meaning, significance or relevance of that lesson.

As the lessons in the textbooks are taught in the classrooms, all that is needed is the undivided attention of students and not the textbooks. In other words, textbooks are needed for teachers while they teach the lessons and students need them to read to refresh only at home. When the role of the textbooks is so clear, why should they be ferried every day to the school? If the textbooks are left at home and only the notebooks are to be carried, the weight of the bag is expected to come down considerably.

A small shelf with a locking facility in the classrooms for every student to keep their books, articles and other accessories would go a long way to mitigate the problem of weighty bags. The school bags, as in a few Western countries, fitted with wheels, like the trollies which the children could easily drag, is another feasible solution. In case the schools provide safe drinking water in a hygienic environment, students would be relieved of carrying big water bottles daily. A separate delivery portal system to transport and deliver school bags right in the classrooms and at the homes of students in the evenings, on the lines of Zomato or Swiggy, can also be tried. If food is delivered safely and punctually at every house by such bodies, why not a school bag?

But any such step needs a strong political will and cooperation of all the stakeholders.