By Sarah Hannan With another school year commencing, the weight of a school backpack is once again being questioned. Parents took to social media to voice their concerns on the weight of a schoolbag their children have to carry, and it seemed that the children in grades seven and eight carried the heaviest backpacks, weighing between 7-8 kg. According to Family Health Bureau consultant community physician Dr. Kapila Jayaratne, the recommended weight for a schoolbag should be 10% of the body weight of a child. A child who is 12-13 years old would weigh between 41-45 kg (on average) and when compared to the weight of the schoolbag they carry, it seems they are carrying at least double the recommended weight. “After years of research, we understood that the most suitable type of bag to carry school books in is the backpack. This backpack should be ergonomically designed to ensure that the child will not suffer health implications,” Dr. Jayaratne elaborated. He also revealed that apart from the excessive weight, if a child does not wear the backpack on both shoulders or doesn’t have the straps secured properly, they would face one or more health implications such as pain in muscles and joints (musculoskeletal pain), easy fatigability, disorders of the spine, drooping of the shoulder, psychological distress, numbness and difficulties in various parts of the body, and sometimes even accidents. “Many children suffer silently carrying unhealthily heavy schoolbags. With the objective of mitigating these negative consequences, an ergonomically designed schoolbag was introduced. The Expert Committee on Ergonomics of the Sri Lanka Medical Association recognised the ‘healthy schoolbag’ as a best practice to promote good health among schoolchildren,” Dr. Jayaratne stated. Considering their recommendations, the Ministry of Education issued a circular on 21 October 2010, which implemented the recommendations in 2011, making it mandatory to bring school material in a “healthy schoolbag”. Dr. Jayaratne further reiterated that for their children, parents should choose a backpack model schoolbag complying with the body size of the child, with healthy features. Features to look out for in a ‘healthy schoolbag’

• Correct size – the size of the bag should comply with the height and size of the back of the chest of the child. It should not go over the shoulders and below the waistline
• Limited space – don’t allow the child to put unnecessary items into the bag and increase the weight of the bag. The bag has specific places for the lunchbox and water bottle
• Two distinct, separate compartments to limit relative movement of the contents and to put heavier books closer to the centre of gravity of the body
• Adequately cushioned back wall minimising pressure exerted by the bag on the back of the chest
• Two wide, cushioned shoulder straps with movable buckles to reduce pressure on the neck-shoulder region and to fix the bag snugly to the body
• Waist belt – the weight of the bag is transmitted to the hips and legs, minimising the effect of the weight on the body of the child

Instructions to use the bag correctly

• A bag with a suitable height should be selected in accordance with the height of the student
• Heavier books should be packed in the proximal compartment
• The contents inside the bag should be properly packed, so that they do not move inside the bag
• Only essential books should be packed in the bag according to the school timetable
• The water bottle and lunchbox should be packed in the relevant pouches
• The bag should be worn on both shoulders
• The shoulder strap buckles should be adjusted to fit the bag tightly to the body
• The buckle of the belt should be adjusted from the front
• The bag should not be allowed to droop down
• The lower edge of the bag should not hang more than four inches below the waist

According to international standards, a student can generally carry 10% of his/her body weight. It should not exceed 15% under any circumstance. Therefore, directing students to use a “healthy schoolbag”, produced according to proper standards in the correct manner, will enable them to minimise many health-related problems which they face due to the excessive weight of the bag. Recommendations adopted by the Ministry With Dr. Jayaratne and the Family Health Bureau indicating the health impacts on a child who carries heavy schoolbags, we inquired from the Ministry of Education as to what steps they took to lessen the burden on children. Speaking to The Sunday Morning, Ministry of Education, Health and Nutrition Branch Director Renuka Peiris said that several measures have been taken to address the issue. “We took into consideration all the findings that were presented by Dr. Jayaratne, and took measures to split the textbooks into two lots. We have also instructed schools to inform children to use notebooks that are 80 pages thick. These notebooks can be later stacked together for reference at home.” Peiris said that sometimes children do not wear the schoolbags as instructed, and stated: “They do not buckle the strap at the waist and the weight of the bag sprains their shoulders. There are instances where sometimes children use bags that are different from the specified ergonomics and that can cause them health implications as well.” She further stated that there is no way a bag could weigh 7-8 kg if the recommended steps were followed, adding that sometimes for a day, children have double periods for certain subjects and so don’t have to take so many textbooks. “We issue textbooks for children’s reference and the teachers are supposed to use their teacher’s guides to educate the children at school. So technically, children do not have to bring their textbooks to school. The teacher can assign homework from the textbook which the child can do when they get home,” Peiris elaborated. “On the subject of the weight of the schoolbag, we also need to see whether the child is carrying additional books for their afterschool tuition classes. If they are taking books according to their timetable, then the schoolbags should weigh less,” Peiris concluded. Parents’ feedback Following the response received by the Ministry of Education, we inquired from a few parents whether the recommendations from the Education Ministry are practised at schools. Below are responses from two parents whose children attend international and government schools. Not applicable to international schools Haleema Khan, a mother of two, revealed that the textbook split is only applicable to government schools and private schools which follow the national curriculum. She also stated that not many international schools have locker facilities, so her children who are in grades two and six have to carry textbooks and notebooks for the relevant subjects. “To ease the burden off the weight of their schoolbags, I do two things. For my son who is in grade two, I send a trolley bag so he does not have to carry it on his shoulders. My daughter who is in grade six takes two separate bags for textbooks and writing books. Many parents have switched to this method.” Textbook is compulsory Nishi Vibratheepam, sharing her views, stated that for a child in the senior grades, an 80-paged notebook is not enough and they are required to bring notebooks that are at least 120-200 pages thick. “Contrary to what the Ministry of Education says, children have to take their textbooks to school, and they have to take additional books apart from the government textbooks. For example for Christianity, they have to carry a Bible to school as well. If the child does not take the textbook to school, they get penalised.” Photo Saman Abesiriwardana