Life
Bangalore
Chennai
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
Bearing the burden
"I keep telling the children to keep the text books and note books according to the timetable and they shout back that they are doing just that,'' says Devi Rajkumar, who has two teenaged children.
"We have most of the subjects everyday and we are supposed to take the text as well as the note books,'' says Sruthi Rajkumar, a class VIII student. She does not mind carrying the heavy bag along since she does not have to walk a long way. "I board the school bus very near from my house and while coming back too the bus drops me near the house."
Many others are not so lucky. The school bags must be weighing at least 3 kg for most of the students from class III or IV onwards.
Dinesh Nair, who goes walking to the nearby school, has to walk at least for 20 minutes. "I do feel that the bag is quite heavy. I would like to have a cycle to go to school,'' he feels. "I would be able to walk around more freely with the heavy bag off my shoulder,'' he adds.
At a young age itself, the children are carrying the burden of life on their shoulders.
All the books and note books crammed into their heads, the children are supposed to come out of school all prepared to face life's ups and downs.
``I just love going to school. The holidays were so boring,'' cried B. Ramya. "I would not like missing the school even for a day''. What about carrying a heavy bag? "Oh, I think it is part of the parcel,'' the Class XI student adds.
The students do not think that there is any alternative for carrying their heavy school bags.
"I have never given much thought about it,'' says Mathew Johns. "Yes, the bag is heavy, but I find it difficult only when I have to take more than the usual things.'' And how often is that? "At least twice a week.''
Says a teacher from a prominent school in the city: "The nursery children are saved the task of carrying a heavy bag. The school has only a few textbooks for the initial primary classes too. But the bags are certainly heavy by the time the student reaches the upper primary classes.
But it is not the case for all schools."
Says a concerned parent whose child will be going to Class I when the school reopens, "My daughter had to take at least nine textbooks and notebooks in LKG which is quite heavy for a 4-year old starting school.
After my appeal to the class teacher, she started keeping the workbook for all the languages in the school itself.''
The weight of the school bag has been a concern of the Parliamentarians too.
There has been a move a while ago to bring in legislation to impose curbs on the weight of the school bag, but things seem not to have worked out well for the children.
But there is surely something to cheer about. The CBSE authorities had recently said that in all their schools there would be no bags for children in Class 1 and 2.
The weight of the bags will be much reduced for students in classes 3, 4 and 5.
By Shyama Rajagopal
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Life
Bangalore
Chennai
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
|
