Date:01/07/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/07/01/stories/2003070108920300.htm

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

This school doesn't burden frail shoulders

By Our Special Correspondent

Bangalore June 30. While the controversy continues over schoolchildren being burdened with heavy bags, one school in Bangalore has done something to make it easier on frail shoulders.

The East-West School at Basavanagudi has introduced a new concept, "Less weight, more fun." Trustees of the school took the initiative last December to find ways to reduce the "book load" from the new academic year.

A study conducted across all classes showed that an empty schoolbag itself weighed between 600 gm. and 1.6 kg.

The average weight of books carried by children daily — across all classes — came to 2 kg. At the Class 5 level, the average weight of the schoolbag was 5.3 kg.

Parents were called for a meeting to explain that the bags should be lighter in the first place, and need not resemble an infantryman's backpack.

Textbooks would be stored in classrooms, and children needed to bring only eight notebooks each day; this would reduce the load by 1.5 kg., they were told. The school further simplified this by introducing new, longer notebooks of 100 pages each, with 30 lines in each page. The notebooks weighed 240 gm. each. A child needs to bring only five such notebooks to school. The workbooks and project books are retained in the school, and there are lockers in each classroom to store books.

These steps taken by the school have reduced the weight of the average school bag to 1.5 kg., the Managing Trustee, Sushil Mehra, says. For the higher classes, the school has a "filing system"; students are provided sheets of paper and files in which they store written assignments.

Both parents and students are happy at this reduced load. Annapurna, whose granddaughter, Sneha, is in Class 4, says: "I am happy she will not lose books. Both her parents are working, and they won't be worried about the timetable, and whether all books are being taken.'' Sabiha Sadaf, mother of Maseera (Class 3) is happy the eight-year-old does not carry a heavy bag now.

Neha (Class 4) sums it up: "We feel good coming to school as we carry fewer books. We feel less tired when we go back home. We don't spoil our books as they are hardbound and stay in school. There is more space to sit in the auto without heavy bags.''