Concern over heavy school bags of children

FROM A REPORTER

SHILLONG, July 20: The KHM State Youth Wing has expressed concern on heavy school bags carried by young students to school while observing that it will affect the health of the students.

“This is an issue concerning the health of our young students who are the future of our state and we need to take care of their wellbeing properly and this issue is not only affecting Meghalaya but it is an issue which has affected other states in the country,” Thomas Passah KHM state youth wing president said in a statement here today.

Citing an example he said, a social worker had filed a PIL on the issue of heavy school bags carried by the students at Maharashtra, and the state government in Maharashtra in this connection has constituted a committee to look into the issue.

He informed that as per the census of the committee there are five findings and 44 suggestions.

The finding report of the committee indicates that around 58 percent of students under the age of 10 have “Mild Muscle pain” and 75 percent of the students under the age of 12 are constantly falling sick due to the fact that their school bags are heavy.

He said the there were also suggestions from the committee that the school bags carried by the students should not surpass 10 percent of the students weight and the committee had also suggested to slot in only 3 subjects in one day and two periods for one subject.

“We realize that the students have to carry many things in their school bags like pencil box, compass pox, lunch box, water bottle, text book, practical jourl etc..,  however since the young students are not aware that this might affect their health there is a need to safeguard them,” he said.

The KHM state youth wing urge the state government to immediately bring the much needed Education Policy in the state.

“We would like to urge the Education Minister to take this matter seriously concerning the young students of our state by consulting with various educatiol institutions with an aim to reduce the weight of the school bags,” he said.