Heavy weight champions of India

The regular type of school is manufactory and is a mere method of discipline, specially designed for grinding out uniform results," said Rabindranath Tagore, debunking the rote learning style of education, "We rob the child of his earth to teach him geography; of language to teach him grammar; His hunger is for the epic, (but) he is supplied with chronicles of facts and dates," concludes Tagore.

The debate on the rote system of learning prevalent in the Indian education once again came to the fore when the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) came with a circular, specifying the amount of bag weight prescribed for each standard in school. The move was directly aimed at reducing the bag burden that most school students in the country are currently facing.

Despite government's push on digital India, its stress on textbook-based learning reveals an essential flaw plaguing the education system.

The jury is divided on this. While some education experts claim that the school needs to bring storage for students and change the pedagogy beyond textbooks, some want parents and schools to come together to adhere to the guidelines.

Also read: Maharashtra plan to shed kilos from school bag failed: Activist

DNA spoke with some education experts, school authorities and an array of how this issue can be curbed or have been implemented in their institution.

The argument

Recently, the Ministry of Human Resource Development Department of School Education and Literacy (MHRD) have issued a circular for other states to follow guidelines of Maharashtra State or Telangana to reduce school bag weight. The Maharashtra State Education Department had earlier shared the guidelines from experts in July 2015 government resolution for parents and schools to curb the heavy weight of school bags of children. Despite being the pioneer in the effort to reduce bag weight of school students, it was revealed that very little was done to fundamentally change the system around to take it beyond books- and notebooks-based learning.

Mumbai-based activist Swati Patil filed a Public Interest Litigation in Bombay High Court, hearing of which continues till date. She claimed that the inspections done by the government authorities were very vague on school bags. She has filed an RTI this year too, but has received a reply from the government authorities that they still haven't received any report from the education department on inspection of school bags. On this, the education department in Pune on November 27 instructed the zonal education officer to do an inspection of 50 schools from class 1 to 12 and send the report by November 29 last year.

Experts are advocating that pedagogy needs to move away from carrying books to school and back.

Sarita Sharma, co-founder, The Teacher app, said, "Schools should look at textbooks as a reference and not only material in the class room to teach. Also, devising ways of looking at your pedagogy beyond textbooks are some of the solutions to bring down the heavy weight of school bags."

Also read: States rush to lighten children's school bags

The Teachers app teaches basically about courses on building teachers conceptual knowledge. The organisation currently works with governments of Jharkhand and Chattisgarh.

Another expert, Francis Joseph, Head-Development and Strategy, Maharashtra International Education Board (MIEB) said, "Parents feel that if a child will not carry textbooks in the school then how will they study? They want to keep a check on what their child has learned in school and so they want schools to make children bring textbooks and notebooks. It's everyone's fault and schools alone cannot be blamed."

MIES, which is started by state government, does not follow subject-based learning. It follows interdisciplinary approach where many subjects are taught through one theme and so dependency of students on textbooks and subjects has reduced. Teachers are provided resources to teach students different ideas and topics. IB Board schools follow interdisciplinary approach and it will soon come in our state board schools," explained Joseph.

Health fallout

"Carrying the school bag was quite a difficult task in school as it used be immensely heavy with all the books, a tiffin and a water bottle. Being a sports student, sometimes we had to carry two bags, one which had the books and another with the sports kit with shoes and extra tiffin because we had to stay back for evening practices after the school hours. The task of carrying such heavy bags with so much of weight was very exhausting. We used to be nearly dead with fatigue by the end of the day and not in a situation to do anything but sleep. It affected our physical health to a larger extent. Carrying those heavy bags is definitely what I feel relieved of after leaving the school," says, Ruchika Mittal, second year college student who passed out from school in 2017.

Doctors are unanimous about the short and the long term health impacts of carrying heavy bags to school. They warn against students taking heavy bags to school. They claim that the heavy weight school bags can affect kids physically and mentally and some claim it may develop a deformity known as Kyphosis in which spine cord gets curved.

Also read: Gujarat takes load off school kids' bags

"It is a very common problem that the kids are facing due to bulky school bags. Parents often come with their kids who have a complaint of back pain, stiff neck or fatigue. A retrospective investigation reveals that the reason behind the pain is carrying a heavy school bag. The bag should not be heavier than the one tenth part of the total weight of the kid. To balance a heavier school bag, carrying on the back, kids have to use their muscles. In the long time, it develops tension and pain in groin, back and shoulders. A bulky school bag also impacts pressure points on shoulders. Overall heavy school bag affects muscles, bones and skin. It affects a kid physically and mentally as well," said Dr Siddhartha Sharma, Orthopedic Surgeon, Shalby Hospital, Jaipur.

"An ideal weight of a school bag depends upon the weight and muscle strength of the kid. When a kid tries to balance a bulky bag on his/her back, it puts pressure on the spine. It then develops into a deformity known as Kyphosis in which the spinal cord gets curved. Simultaneously, it puts pressure on cervical muscles as well that converts into cervical pain and shoulder pain," explains Dr Dheeraj Dubey, Orthopedic Surgeon, HCG Hospital, Jaipur.

"The weight of education that the children carry in their bags is leading to a lot of problems for them. Firstly, their posture changes. Due to the weight of the bag the children tend to move their body a little ahead. Neck and back problems are becoming more common these days. While some do opt for physiotherapy, most of them eat painkillers and get home therapy," said Dr Kuldeepal Talwar, Joint Specialist and Physiotherapist.

The mantra

Schools throughout the country have also introduced some methods of making learning fun rather than seeing it as a burden. There are some schools who also practice no school bag day for children, and use different methods of teaching on that day.

Taskeen Sareshwala, Managing Director, Shama Group of Schools, Ahmedabad, said, "Rather than school bag weight, the government should be focusing on quality of teaching in schools. The government is spending so much money on government schools but the results are not visible. Private schools, which are trying to focus on quality, are being restricted by putting a cap on fees."

Echoing the sentiments of Sareshwala, another educationist, Manan Choksi, Managing Director, Udgam School for Children, Ahmedabad, feels that the government is not focusing on the solution, and just issuing circulars.

There is no recommendation for schools to reduce school bag weight.

"The problem is changing textbooks. The textbooks have now become workbooks and have lot of instructions for teachers, parents and students related to activities. So the problem is educational processes and hence we need to redesign education by introducing a notepad system," explains Choksi.

"We have designed our homework manual in such a way that children don't take work home. On Fridays, we have a 'no bag day' and we conduct various activities for the children. The children do not carry anything apart from their tiffin box. We ensure children learn and understand concepts in different ways, making learning different. For eg: we allow them to choose how they wish to learn a concept, giving them practice manuals. The weight is a concern and having a lighter bag will also mean children will have a positive connect to bond time with family," said Jyoti Arora, Principal, Mount Abu School, Delhi.

Schools pitch in

While educationists advice a broad shift on concept learning, many schools in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Delhi and Jaipur have done small experiments at their level to ease the burden off school students backs and make learning fun.

Abha Dharampal, CEO, Utpal Sanghvi Global School, Juhu, said, "Our students don't carry any notebooks. They only carry one perforated pre-punched single line 100 pages book. They write on this perforated book for all the subjects, tear the pages and go home and keep it in the file of that subject. They don't carry book for every subject to school. They carry one language and Maths textbook and are free to keep it in the lockers we provide to them." According to Dharampal, they have been following this system since two decades now.

On the other hand, IES Modern English School, Dadar, is another school that has adopted one system that will help students reduce their burden. They conduct two periods for one subject on certain days that helps students to bring less number of textbooks and notebooks. There is also a system in place where the bench partner gets half of the books and the other student the other half. Both of them share their books, thereby reducing the burden. For class 8 to 10, they allow students to bring full scape papers to take notes, which they go home and file for different subjects.

Swati Popat Vats, President of Podar Education Network and Early Childhood Association, India, said, "When Podar Jumbo Kids started in 2000, it designed its own school bag, keeping in mind size, shape and weight as well. In Junior and Senior Kindergarten, only one book is carried by our students. Our students don't carry any book as they are kept in the school. The school bag should only have bare necessities like a water bottle, snack box, and clothes for pre-primary. I think both parents and schools should adhere to the guidelines laid by the government."

"We keep notes books in schools only. Our homework is more activity oriented type so kids do not have to carry bags, says Mahdi Mani, Principal, Jayshree Periwal High School, Jaipur.

As regarding the infrastructure in school, Mani says, "We keep test copies and other books in school itself. We have proper cupboards for it and I am sure every school must be having them. We can't allow small kids to bring such heavy bags."

Archana S Mankotia, Principal MGD Girls School, Jaipur, says, "We tell the kids not to bring all the books. We also tell the parents not send all the books with the children. We keep notebooks in school and try to keep the bag weight less for not just the little ones but the entire school."

In Jaipur's Jayshree Periwal High School only in senior classes homework is given in subject like in maths. The school's primary sections we don't give homework, adds Mani. Seeking parents support, some schools have brought storage for students to keep their books. Another problem that most schools face is that most parents do not want to check the time table and so they send all the books.

MHRD DIRECTIONS

• Do not prescribe any homework for class 1 and 2 students
   
• Do not prescribe any other subjects, except language and Mathematics for Class 1 and 2 and language, EVS and Mathematics for class 3 to 5 students as prescribed by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)

— Kranti Vibhute, Sakshi Chand, Amit Bhatt, and Tanushree Bhatia