Dubai: It has been almost 10 years since Dubai resident Fatima Suhail carried her heavy school bag back and forth to school, yet the 26-year-old still suffers back pain to this day.
With the start of the school year just around the corner, many students, parents and experts have expressed their concern about the student’s heavy school bag.
Fatima, who graduated in 2006, has been left with permanent damage due to the 7kg plus bag she carried during her days at an Indian curriculum school.
“The pain got worse with time but I was young and I thought it was normal. I eventually decided to seek advice from a chiropractor. I was told that the shoulder bone was dislocated and was not equal in position, putting a lot of pressure on my spine.”
Fatima said at one point of her school life she has a total of eight subjects for which she had to carry eight heavy textbooks, exercise books and folders and so she remembers struggling on to the bus and tripping.
“I am still living with chronic back pain that requires months of physiotherapy and thousands in treatment. I am in my mid-twenties but my posture is that of aged people due to my condition. I cannot sleep straight on my back as the pain gets worse. I am sure many students would be sharing a similar plight,” she said.
Gulf News asked parents on Facebook to share the weight of their children’s school bag and most of them said their children’s bag weighed more than 7kg.
This can be problematic, especially for young children, as Dr Sanjay Kumar Sureen, specialist orthopaedic surgeon at Prime Hospital, said it is dangerous for students to carry more than 10 to 15 per cent of their weight.
“Carrying a heavy bag can cause neck, shoulder and back pain, those are the short-term effects. As for the long-term effects, it can cause scoliosis — the abnormal curve of the spine — which causes persistent back pain,” he said.
He also said it can take a toll on children’s growth, however only if they have pre-existing problems.
Dr Sureen also said carrying a backpack on one shoulder can cause the situation to worsen.
Many schools in the country have banned trolley bags which take the weight off students’ backs in the UAE. Parents like Hamad Jan say this made it worse for his third grade son.
“Trolleys are banned at the school so my grade three son has to carry a very heavy bag on his back. He is always crying because of it. I worry that this can cause permanent damage to his little body,” he said.
Schools banned trolleys because they are noisy; they can cause permanent trails on the floor and can injure students when the halls are crowded.
Despite the many negative effects of carrying heavy bags, there are no laws set by the Ministry of Education or the Knowledge and Human Development Authority on this issue.
However, with the country’s push towards becoming a smart government and promoting e-classes, some schools have lifted the weight by transferring class content into e-material accessed on small tablets.
Clive Pierrepont, Director of Communications of Taaleem schools, said Taaleem schools try to minimise the amount of books students walk around with by providing all students with lockers.
“Trolley bags are allowed in Taaleem schools to minimise the weight put on young students who find them easier to carry than backpacks.A lot of educational source material and texts are already digitised on tablets or computers, so technology is also taking a lot of the weight off students,” he said.
