The lack of an on-campus canteen forcing children to carry lunchboxes from home and heavy books are some of the reasons for a majority of students from unaided schools staggering under the weight of their bags. The average weight they have to carry is 5.6 kg.
Students attending government schools have the lightest load, averaging 3.7 kg ( See box ).
These were some of the findings of a sample survey conducted by the Department of State Educational Research and Training (DSERT) in association with Centre for Child and the Law, National Law School of India University. Twenty-four schools in the city, including ICSE, Kendriya Vidyalayas and State-aided ones, were surveyed and the bags of 1,000 children were weighed.
And the notebooks ...
Notebooks constitute the maximum weight; schools tend to prescribe about three notebooks per subject in addition to textbooks, noted the survey. On an average, class eight students are burdened by the most number of books. Across all school categories, they carried an average of 10.5 books.
The other material that students carry are lunch boxes, water bottle, sports equipment, musical instruments, story books, extra books and pouches. The maximum number of such items are carried by class seven students, the survey found.
Bag of Class X KV student weighs the most While State-aided school bags may have the highest average weight, the heaviest bag is carried by a Class X Kendriya Vidyalaya student. Their bags can weigh up to 8 kg. The survey notes that Class X students of aided schools carry the second-heaviest bags at 6.7 kg.
However, Anantha Padamanabhan, Principal, Kendriya Vidyalaya, M.G. Railway Colony, said that the sample size was too small. “Kendriya Vidyalaya has a detailed set of guidelines. Principals are monitoring the weight of bags and sensitising parents and children. A larger sampling would help in identifying more accurate results,” he said.
Pack bag as per timetable The burden of ensuring that children are not weighed down by their bags falls not only on schools but also parents. The survey found that that 50 per cent of students from KV schools, 60 per cent of children in ICSE schools and 67 per cent of children in CBSE schools packed according to the day’s timetable. But among government schools and state-recognised private schools, the figure is 80 per cent.
‘We will write to government’ Kripa Amar Alva, Chairperson, Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, says, “Based on the findings, we will write to the government about the consequences of heavy bags on a child’s spine and health. We will seek measures so that students are not burdened.”
D. Shashi Kumar, general secretary, Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka, says, “Private schools tend to prescribe workbooks and multiple textbooks. Students do not bring books as per the timetable. These lead to heavy weight of bags.”
