Thousands of parents and children are experiencing yet another back to school season. In the past few days parents and children have been busy shopping for school stationery such as bags, books, geometry boxes and several other paraphernalia and supermarkets with shops across Qatar making brisk business.
Giving the best education to their children is of paramount interest and first priority for parents and they walk the extra mile to ensure it. In this modern highly-competitive world, more often than not, education has become a very costly burden on the parents as well as children.
While the children are burdened with a heavy work load, the parents are burdened with rising school fees and other expenses. While we make a hue and cry over the expenses and poor quality of services provided, we often forget about the backpack weight that our children forced to carry everyday.
Recently, an expert at the Hamad General Hospital (HGH) said that the number of children visiting the Orthopaedic Clinics at the HGH seeking treatment for muscle and joint pain has increased. He said that most of them have developed such complications due to the wrong use of backpack and less physical activities. At least 40 percent of the children visiting the clinics suffer back, neck, shoulder and muscle pain, according to Dr Omar Alnori, Associate Consultant, Orthopaedic and Spine Surgery at the HGH.
He blames the backpacks packed with study materials that the children carry everyday to and back from school and lack of physical activities for these problems. He said: “Children visit us at the age of 13 or 14 years. It is more common than before. Some children we see in the clinic now have early arthritis in their lower back.”
This fact should be an eye-opener to parents and school authorities alike. The burden that schoolchildren carry on their back has become a backbreaking perennial problem which is spoiling the health of our future generation. It is high time that school authorities considered this issue as a priority.
There are several ways to lessen the bag burden. Some schools are already providing lockers at school where students can place some of their study materials which they are not supposed to take home on a daily basis, which is a welcome move.
Schools should look into reducing the size of the text books by splitting them into two or three sections according to the term schedule the schools follow. Encouraging the use of tablets and laptops, instead of note books is also worth consideration and providing notes online would come in handy for teachers and students, thus slashing the weight of the school bags further.
Children should be encouraged to play outside and parents should restrict the use of electronic gadgets such as mobile phones, computers and television which play a major role in keeping the children indoors and thereby making them couch potatoes. We can reap only what we sow.
