It has been observed that a majority of School students are facing health issues due to heavy bags. According to medical experts, around 58 percent of students below 10 years of age have mild muscle pain while 75 per cent of those below 12 years of age were found to be falling ill and having fever from time to time due to heavy bags.

Experts also say that schools bags of CBSE and ICSE Schools In Mumbai were heavier than that of state board students. At the same time, it is found that students in rural areas carry lighter bags than those in urban areas.

Here are a few reasons why:

• CBSE and ICSE schools in Thane and other parts of Mumbai have fat textbooks for many subjects, hence students studying in these schools tend to have heavier bags.
  
• Secondly, since there are no lockers in the school - students try to carry everything from compass box, lunch box, water bottle, heavy practical journals, school diary, tuitions books etc; and school authorities are not taking any effort to stop them.
  
• Besides all the above things, students studying in international schools in Mumbai are fond of carrying fancy backpacks which tend to be heavier than the normal books. This, in turn, adds to the weight of the overall baggage.
  
• Additionally, even parents fail to train children on how to pack bags smartly. Since kids are too small to understand, their bags are always cluttered and messy – this is another reason why more weight is added to the bag, unnecessarily.

Carrying heavy school bags day after day is one of the most distressing experiences for a school going child.  Apart from normal muscle pain and fever, there are several consequences of overburdening their tiny shoulders. The pain and physical discomfort resulting from carrying a heavy school bag can also result in stress and lack of attentiveness in a child, affecting their learning in the precious formative years.
Hence as parents and responsible educational leaders, it is our duty to find ways on how to unburden our children from heavy school bags. It will not only make kids feel light but will also make schooling a joyous and enriching experience for them.