No-satchel days for juniors, allowing seniors to share textbooks in class and pruning the timetable are some of the measures two schools in the steel city have been taking for a couple of years now to buffer the burden of schoolbags on children.

Motilal Nehru Public School (MNPS) in Sakchi and ADLS Sunshine School in Kadma are the oases of hope at a time monstrosities in the form of heavy bags and home assignments are plaguing India’s education system.

Affiliated to CISCE, the school in Sakchi noticed the problem in 2016 and has since been celebrating the third Wednesday of September as Backpack Awareness Day. On this days, teachers associated with the school’s SAFE (safety awareness for everyone) Club weighs each bag to ensure the burden is not backbreaking.

Principal of MNPS Ashu Tiwary recalled that a 2016 survey opened their eyes when bags of primary students were found to weigh up to 10kg.

Without further ado, the school introduced five periods a day, each of an hour’s duration, which automatically reduced the weight of the bags. Usually, English-medium schools here have seven to eight periods a day, each stretching between 35 to 45 minutes.

“While the five-period concept has worked for us pretty well, we are brainstorming on more ways to reduce the weight of schoolbags. A student’s satchel ideally shouldn’t be more than 15 per cent of his or her weight. Both schools and parents need to be aware of this and the long-term side effects of carrying heavy bags,” she said.

ADLS Sunshine is the other school in Jamshedpur have already taken measures to ease the burden of schoolbags on students. Telegraph picture

ADLS Sunshine too juggles with the daily timetable to cut down on subjects and hence, bag weight. Students of Classes XI and XII are allowed to share books. For nursery kids, Mondays and Wednesdays are “no-bag days”.

“There are surprise checks. In the past, we have also sent circulars to parents explaining a child should not be burdened,” said principal Indrani Singh.

Both schools have observed that a tendency among parents and students to pack everything at one go instead of following the daily timetable was another key reason behind heavy bags.

Doctors say back and neck pain among schoolchildren are common these days, and these may later intensify into spondylosis. A heavy backpack directly affects posture and can cause many serious and long-term orthopaedic ailments affecting the spine and shoulder muscles, they said.