Srinagar: With increase in number of children having back problems, Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) today attributed it to the heavy weight of the bags children carry to schools.
Voicing concern over heavy school bags, President DAK Dr Nisar-ul-Hassan in a statement said the burden of studies that kids have to carry on their delicate shoulders is weighing them down.
Majority of school children suffer from back pain, pain in the neck and shoulders due to heavy bags. They come up with fatigue, chronic headaches and early development of bad posture.
He said that growing numbers of children suffer with irreversible back deformities like Khyphosis-spine bent forward or scolosis-spine bent side, due to heavy bags. These deformities with time give them breathing difficulty due to lung involvement. We see number of students with early slipped disc due to back-breaking bags.Children skeletons are still growing, so carrying big backpacks could be one of the reasons for increase in stunted growth among children.
Dr Nisar-ul-Hasan said that a study in a Spanish school revealed that children carrying heavy bags were linked to a higher level of back pain. According to a report from Mumbai, 58% of students below 10 years are suffering from orthopedic ailments due to heavy bags.Children lose interest in coming to school with the stress of carrying heavy bags. Their mind is burdened with the weight of books and this leads to low attention span.
As per the guidelines, the recommended weight of a school bag should be less than 10% of the students body weight. But most of the students carry bags weighing much more than what they ideally should. Despite mental stress and physical complications in children due to heavy bags, no efforts have been made to do away with the menace. While in other places creative classrooms have been put in place to ensure kids sprint to school, JK continues with traditional education system.
He said that JK High Court in a PIL has directed the government to come up with a policy decision which would ease the burden of heavy bags of school children. (CNS)
Follow this link to join our WhatsApp group: Join Now
Be Part of Quality Journalism |
Quality journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce and despite all the hardships we still do it. Our reporters and editors are working overtime in Kashmir and beyond to cover what you care about, break big stories, and expose injustices that can change lives. Today more people are reading Kashmir Observer than ever, but only a handful are paying while advertising revenues are falling fast. |
| ACT NOW |
| MONTHLY | Rs 100 |  |
| YEARLY | Rs 1000 | |
| LIFETIME | Rs 10000 | |
