The schoolbag is often seen as a symbol of the Indian education system. Much has been said about the futility of carrying a large number of books and notebooks, how the schoolbag reflect poor timetables and planning by the school authorities. Bags exceeding 10 kg in weight are only a physical strain on the growing body. Quite ironically there seems to be benefits too. To put things in perspective we spoke with Mohan Chandra, a musculoskeletal physiotherapist. His opinion flies in the face of common wisdom. “If children carry some weight on their back actually it might be good as it prevents Scheuermann’s disease later in life.” But overall he feels bags should be lighter. “Children grow till the age of 21 and little curve of the upper spine may be beneficial, but carrying too much weight can result in hyperextension in the cervical regions which will have long-term consequences,” he says. “The weight of the school bag should not exceed the body weight of the child by more than 20 per cent,” he says.

While medical opinion may be hinting at the brighter side, the issue of bag weight continues to be as weighty as ever.

It is not that parents are oblivious to the problem. “Seeing the weight of the bag, we bought a wheeled bag for R. And I thought it must be relieving the agony, till one day I went to the school and discovered that the wheeled bag had to be carried from the bus to the staircase and then the lift is from the first floor only. I felt terrible,” says his mother.

So what happened to Kapil Sibal’s much publicized educational reforms that promised to lighten school bags and make education stress-free? Well, the ICSE and CBSE schools have quietly buried them under a heap of books. In a typical school, on an average there are seven or eight periods a day. Each class is conducted with a minimum of three books: a textbook, a workbook, and a notebook. Even drawing class requires not just blank pages for freehand drawing but also a textbook with half-drawn images.

A bookshop owner who also sells noneducational items says, “Part of the problem is the group of book publishers who strike deals with schools that are very good for the top bosses of educational institutions.” It is not just the weight that is the issue, even the cost of books makes education expensive for children—children who are entitled to a free education under the Right to Education Act that states that “No child shall be liable to pay any kind of fee or charges or expenses which may prevent him or her from pursuing and completing the elementary education.”

July 15 marked the 18th anniversary of submission of Learning Without Burden report of the National Advisory Committee (Yashpal Committee).