7 Ways to help your child manage the school-bag weight and keep the bag light

With the new academic year set to begin soon, here's what you can do to help share your child's load and make the weight of the bag more manageable.

It’s been quite a debate amongst parents, teachers and educational institutions about ‘School Bags’. Children often complain of stress, high amounts of tension due to homework, projects and assignments which leads to chronic back and shoulder pain. Parents too have protested against the educational institutions which make children carry heavy school bags filled with notebooks, heavy textbooks and other stationery material which takes a toll on children and their physical and mental health. The issue was raised in Government sessions too who have promised to look into the matter and make changes to the current education system and curriculum. With the new academic year set to begin soon, here’s what you can do to help share your child’s load and make the weight of the bag more manageable.

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1)      School style sheets

Every private school is a brand in itself and can print eco-friendly sheets of paper using recycled material with their Institution’s name printed on it. Students are supposed to write all their notes in those sheets and then file them separately according to subjects. This will not only save paper but also students’ backs. People who do not go to private schools can also replace the notebooks that the kids carry with sheets of paper. These papers can then be filed away once the kid reaches home in the evening.

2)      Use of pen drives or email

Children are technologically smart today and can operate computers by themselves. Teachers can mail students homework, worksheets and assignments and that can be either done online and submitted or printed and saved into hard copies. This will again save students a lot of burden. If your child’s school does not encourage such practices, you can do the assignment in parts and ask your child to keep it in the school locker and submit it all together on the submission day.

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3)      Digital learning

Smart class is the new thing. These online learning classes provide informative, smart and interactive methods of learning through moving imagery, videos and diagrams with relevant text. Though some of these softwares require a legal license, you can request all parents to make a combined request and convince the school to shift to more modern methods.

4)      The 5 subjects in a book system

The new notebooks in market where you can write 5 subjects content in a single book each divided nicely into different sections that can be clearly marked. Paper save and shoulder save there! Also, while buying these books, do not buy the ones with a hard-cover as they are heavier. Stick to flexible cover books.

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5)      Get a school locker

Think these locker systems exist only in American schools? Nopes! Modern schools have locker systems where the parents can pay a fee and access a locker for their child. Lockers are a very important need for students. Lockers can be used to put heavy textbooks and notebooks and other stationery that is not easy to carry back and forth every day. Lockers are a must and think of it as an investment (would you rather pay the locker fees or doctor fees) and use one.

6)      Sharing textbooks one by one

Sharing is caring they say! Well if you care for your back and shoulder you better share and care. Textbooks can be shared by a group of students each taking the responsibility of bringing the textbook on different days. That is a good way to reduce workload. Alternatively, request the teacher’s permission and see if the books can be downloaded on e-reading devices like Kindle which will help carry all the books in just one light device.

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7)      Make learning more fun

This is information age! With technology progressing by leaps and bounds it is important to make learning and education fun too and give the routine books and papers a break. Indulge in class activities, games, field trips, digital learning though PowerPoint presentations and movies and that will not only make students more attentive  but also learning more fun and enjoyable. Give the good old paper and pen a break!

Article by Anwaya Mane