Children Are Not Load-Carrying Mules. Vijayan is 10 year old boy studying in Class V. He has been complaining of severe back pain. He was taken to the hospital. A scan showed that his backbone was bent badly. How won’t it bend? He is carrying 15 kg of books, tin carrier loaded with lunch, water and umbrella in his backpack every day, walking to and from school, one kilometre away. A Surgery had to be carried out. The doctor told his parents not to let him carry such weights on his back again!

Why do small children carry so much of weight in their backpacks? I remember my granddad telling me that when he was a primary school student he had only a slate, a couple of text books and notebooks to carry apart from his tin carrier. He drank water from the school well. Thus he carried less than one kg to school.

Today when we see school children going to school in the morning, we are reminded of caravans in which we see camels or mules loaded with heavy things on their backs. There is no logical reason why small children should be made into mules. Can’t some of the books be left in the school locker? Can’t they get drinking water in the school itself? I think it is high time we thought of methods of reducing the weight of the bag carried by small children.

Somebody jocularly remarked that today’s children carried knowledge on their backs, whereas the children of the earlier generations carried knowledge in their brains. There is a lot of truth in the statement. Parents should ensure that they don’t let their children carry heavy loads on their backs. In the long run these children will become sick with many problems affecting their vertebral column. Let’s all join hands to make the burden of the school children lighter!