So, your child insists that you read to him The Hunchback of Notre Dame when you put him to bed? It perhaps won't be long before he starts resembling the fabled character. Two years ago, when the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act was enforced, educationists envisaged turning the schooling system on its head. Among other provisions, they wanted to reduce the weight of children's schoolbag, vis-à-vis section 29 of the Act. But, a recent study shows that little has been done in this regard.
Of the 100 children below the age of 10 whose postures were examined, a quarter could not sit without a slouch and suffered from orthopaedic problems; and 20% were physically inactive. Blame the usual suspects: heavy schoolbags, the wrong posture while studying and watching TV and the lack of regular exercise.
Dr Shreepad Khedekar, orthopaedic, Imperial Clinics, which conducted the study on postures, lays the biggest share of the blame on heavy schoolbags. "Some children try to ease the strain of a heavy backpack by dropping their head forward into an irregular posture. Others hang their backpack on one shoulder, developing the muscles on only that shoulder. This leads to a slumped posture and an unnaturally curved spine in children who don't learn to distribute the weight properly."
But, who is at fault really when orthopaedic problems hit at such an early age? Schools and parents are reportedly missing out on correcting students' postures and reducing the burden of their schoolbags.
Hima Doshi, principal of Ajmera Global School, admits that posture is the biggest problem bearing down on schoolchildren. "Despite having installed age appropriate and children-friendly desks, students often sit in the wrong posture when they are engrossed in an activity. They either strain their neck too much or kneel down."
Since it's no secret that heavy schoolbags largely contribute to a poor posture, many schools have begun taking pro-active measures to address the issue. Doshi says her school follows a 'light schoolbag policy' and that recently, it began providing students with lockers for sports kits so that they do not have to carry them to and from school everyday.
Experts, though, point out that schools which face a space crunch or which run in double shifts find it difficult to adopt such measures. Freny Mehta, principal of Alexandria Girls' High School, Fort, says, "Given the large number of students and space constraints, it is not practical for us to install lockers for all students. But, our secondary school students have desks which can be locked and where they can keep some books they need everyday."
The need of the hour, claim experts, is to slash the number of periods in the day and to force students to carry only those books required as per the timetable. Basanti Roy, former secretary of the Mumbai division board of education, says, "Schools have seven to eight periods. Children carry all their books to school either because they are too lazy to pack their bag or out of compulsion. Often, teachers who handle multiple subjects or who are in a hurry to complete portions ask children to carry books for all their subjects every day, irrespective of the period."
The state has come up with circulars, government resolutions and directives from time to time against such school practices, but they remain only on paper.
In 2008, the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission asked the state government to conduct a survey on whether students were burdened with heavy schoolbags. This was two years after RG Sindhakar, a retired high court judge, filed a case with the commission arguing that forcing students to carry heavy schoolbags was a violation of human rights. Armed with a weighing scale, then education minister Anil Deshmukh visited schools. The following government resolution set a limit of 3.5kg on schoolbags.
Right around the time the RTE Act was enforced, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) issued a directive to its affiliated schools that students up to Class II should not have bags at all. But, the ground reality is that most students cannot do without a schoolbag.
Close on the CBSE’s move, the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, which runs more than 1,000 schools across India, too, took a step towards correctional measures when it prescribed weight limits on schoolbags — a 2kg limit for classes I and II, a 3kg one for classes III and IV, a 4kg limit for classes V to VIII, and 5kg for classes IX and X.
But, experts say no one's keeping a tab on such schools. Jayant Jain, president of the Forum for Fairness in Education, a parents' organisation, says the nexus between schools and book publishers, and the education department's manpower crunch leave regular checks as wishful thinking. Take the case of a government resolution that made a provision for schools to follow a 'worksheet system' so that children need not carry multiple books to school every day. But, in the absence of regular checks from the education department, this rule has been phased out. Today, schools give out worksheets in addition to the numerous books, claims Jain. "A part of the problem is that a group of book publishers strikes deals with top-notch schools. Schools force students to buy 200-page notebooks instead of the 100-page ones and insist on a new book every term. Parents complain that not even 50 pages of the book are actually used," alleges Jain.
The state government, though, shifts the blame for poor postures to parents. A senior education official from the state education department says, "We already have several laws in place to ensure that children are not burdened by their schoolbags. All schools have been strictly briefed about it. Parents should monitor their children when they are packing their schoolbags. They should ensure that children stick to the timetable and that they do not carry any unnecessary material. Also, schools must punish students who carry extra books."
