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Oh, what needless pain they bear!

DUBAI - Small children, their shoulders stooped under the sheer weight of heavy bags, trudging along to school is a familiar sight in the Emirates. But get a load of this: the heavy bags not only pose as severe health risk for the children, but also indicates the alarming proportions that this problem could evolve into, if not checked.

Increasing parental concerns over the health of their children is being voiced, blaming the overall educational system in the country. The system is also drawing flak from medical experts, urging the government authorities to review it.

Dr Abdel Salam Hindawi, Director of the School Health Department at the Sharjah Medical District, urged the Ministry of Education and Youth, schools and teachers to lighten the load on young children, pointing to a little known but disturbing fact that young children who are made to carry excessively heavy bags might develop spinal deformaties in the long run.

"Young children are at a stage in life when their bodies are still growing and carrying excessive heavy loads can cause spinal deformities. The solution, in my view, is simple. For one, the Ministry could print separate text books for each semester. Thus a child does not need to carry those chapters that he will not study until the next semester.

"Students do not need to carry as many books as they do, but often teachers themselves do not know which books they will use each day and insist children carry a large number of books. It's our duty to educate teachers of the need to lighten the load on students and protect our children from the potentially harmful effects of carrying heavy bags," Dr Hindawi said.

He said there bags that can be pulled on wheels (strollies) that offer an ideal solution, but added that many schools do not allow children to use these bags as they claim the wheels scratch the floors. Medical professionals in general have expressed dismay about the long-term impact of shouldering these school bags on the long-term health of an individual, claiming the effects of carrying heavy loads on the shoulders can cause irreparable damage to the children's muscular and skeletal systems.

There are some doctors, on the other hand, who insist that there is no long-term damage to the child's back and neck as a result of carrying a heavy weight, adding that while the pain is uncomfortable and an unfair burden on young children, the obvious solution is to change the bag and lighten the load.

Dr Abhay Dandawate, Specialist Orthopaedic Surgeon at Welcare Hospital, told Khaleej Times that there has not been a scientific study carried out on back and neck pain among children due to carrying a heavy load to school. But he said that the simple and obvious answer would be to stop carrying large and heavy bags.

"There are guidelines for what a child should carry on his/her shoulders. A school bag's weight should not exceed 15 per cent of the child's body weight and the shoulder straps used should be at least two inches wide. It is preferable to have an additional waist strape which helps distribute the weight more evenly," said Dr Dandawate.

He stressed that while he does see children in the hospital with neck and back pain, the first instinct is not to blame it on the school bag, but to first rule out other organic causes of the back pain. He said that while he sees a few children at the hospital out patient clinic with back and neck pain, there aren't that many cases as to be a cause for alarm.

However, parents argue that faulty school management and heavy curriculum loads designed by several Asian and Arabic syllabi schools are responsible for this emerging heavy bag problem. If, only, they could reorganise their system and adopt the methods of some of the international curricula schools which prescribe to fewer book load, the problem can be eliminated, parents expressed.

Amit Raj, whose children study in a CBSE-affiliated school in Sharjah, said: "The educational system, particularly the Indian curriculum, should be changed to reduce the book weight of the students. Besides, the government should punish the schools, ordering students to bring loads of books."

"Currently, children are carrying books more than their body weight, especially the fourth to tenth standard students. They are carrying about 40 notebooks per day for eight periods. To control this, the schools can instruct the teachers to reduce either the notebooks or the subjects handled per day (from eight to six or five)," K. Sivakumar, another parent, pointed out.

"Students with heavy bags on their shoulders find it difficult travelling in a bus during peak hours. By the time they reach their destination point they are totally drained off their energy. The government should understand the seriousness of the problem and find ways to reduce the burden," said another parent, hoping schools and the concerned authorities resolve the issue which is simply not regional, but global.

Academicians point out that the 'heavy school bags' phenomenon is not restricted to particular curricula schools, but is an emerging trend globally and is the outcome of faulty school managements. In addition, overweight bags are not always caused by academic material only. There are many students who carry music Compact Discs (CDs), comics, storybooks and other material that does not form part of the daily school requirements.

Ashok Kumar, Principal of the Indian High School in Dubai, pointed out that as an educationist he's in a piquant situation, featuring as both part of the problem and the solution. That's because the physical number of books that enters a child's bag each morning is decided at more than one point and by more than one authority.

"As an integral part of the educational system to which we adhere, it is mandatory that we observe the guidelines related to syllabus, curriculum and prescribed textbooks as laid down by the board. Individual schools therefore have very limited powers in influencing the quality or quantity of prescribed books."

He agrees that the daily class timetable is a tool, which, if carefully designed, could alleviate many of the problems. "A well-developed timetable would automatically eliminate the need for a student to carry all his books to school on the same day. Similarly the intelligent separation of class work books and homework books would ensure that not all books need to be taken back home and brought back to school the next day."

At the Indian High School, he said, they place a particular emphasis on children's comfort and safety encouraging children to follow the timetable strictly which in turn restricts the number of books carried to school everyday. Comics, CDs and other non-academic material are totally banned in school and regular checks are conducted to spot such material, he disclosed.

Tayeb Chakera, Principal of The Cambridge High School(TCHS) in Dubai, said his school has dealt with the problem of heavy bags by providing students with lockers in class.

"Heavy bag packs is not a major issue at TCHS, because, at the primary level, only the required books go home with the students, while the rest are retained in school. While at the secondary level, where there are five periods every day, students are urged to only bring in five textbooks and five exercise books relevant to the subject of study for the day."

He believes that the issue, which is also very relevant in the UK, should be dealt by individual school managements bearing in mind that the safety and health of the students is the primary concern of any education institution.

"Like in the case of TCHS, we make regular announcements during the school assembly, stressing that the students need not carry excess bag load. Besides, parents, students and the teachers are fully informed on what the requirements of books is for the day," said Mr Chakera.