Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne says that a new, ergonomically healthy, model of school bag is being introduced on the advice of Consultant Community Physician Dr. Kapila Jayaratne and other experts.
The minister said the new school bag has been introduced from this year to prevent school children from developing muscular-skeletal problems.
“Various models of school bags being used now are not scientifically designed. These have led to back pain among school children. Two percent of school children suffer from scoliosis due to carrying heavy school bags. The proposal to introduce a healthy school bag came in 2008-2009 too, but was not implemented. However, the school bag manufacturers have now agreed to follow this standard model.
The text books have to be arranged according to their weight in this new model of school bag, thus avoiding the full weight on the spine.
The straps of the school bag are padded. We will promote the use of these bags in schools from this year,” the Minister told the Daily News. Health statistics show that over 400 school children had sought medical treatment for spinal problems last year mainly due to heavy school bags. The proposals to reduce the weight of school bags included printing the school text books on a light paper material and printing them in several volumes, in addition to introducing a new standard school bag. However, parents complain that the progress of implementation of these proposals is slow.
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