Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, August 21: Appreciating the need for child-friendly rucksacks, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has proposed a set of guidelines for affiliated schools related to school bags and a new well-designed timetable so that children don’t need to carry heavy bags to school daily.
The guidelines were placed before the Central Advisory Board on Education (CABE) for reconsidering how to make the journey to school a pleasurable one for children. CABE has also mooted the concept of ‘Class Library’ to inculcate the habit of reading among students and proposes to help students who don’t bring textbooks to school on particular days.
It was a wakeup call for school authorities that many people feel are apathetic to the plight of toddlers carrying heavy rucksacks to school and its deleterious effects on their health. Carrying heavy bags may cause medical complications like backache, spondylitis, neck pain, and lung problems, say experts.
A recent study conducted by the Indian Medical Association revealed that heavy bags can result in permanent disability. It also revealed that those who carry bags more than 10 per cent of their body weight have been found to have poorer lung function.
“My daughter is just seven years old and she cannot carry above 2 kg daily to school. I really appreciate the guidelines made by the board. I don’t want my daughter to develop some problem for having to carry heavy bags to school. Schools have to take steps to redesign timetables to minimise the burden on students,” said Pratima Samat Tripathy, mother of a Class II student.
“It will be of great benefit to students if class libraries are introduced in schools soon. Children can develop the habit of reading books in the library daily — a commendable academic habit – at school itself. They don’t have to look forward to procuring books from outside school,” said Niranjan Patnaik, a guardian.
In this regard, emphasis has been accorded on the role school principals and teachers to reset the timetables to make the going smooth for students. “We have not got any instruction from the authorities so far, so the timetable is the same as before. We will consider changing it accordingly after the order arrives,” said Surama Khadenga, principal, MBS Public School.
Principal of Buxi Jagabandhu English Medium School, Sandhya Jena said, “Earlier CBSE had issued instructions regarding child-friendly schoolbags and according we have two practical, game or garden working periods every day considering the health concerns of the students. Still we will do our best to take the burden off young shoulders.”
