It is 2016. This is a digital age of amazing technological advances and yet, children are still walking to school laden down like pack animals hiking up the Himalayas?
The thorny question of schoolchildren struggling with hefty overfilled school bags has been weighing heavily on the minds of parents, teachers and children for some years now.
There does not seem to be many practical solution to the problem.
With all the high-tech innovations of the past decade, we can be forgiven for thinking that children should be gliding to school on hover boards with slim I-pads for school books and holograms of teachers at the ready.
In 1997, the then Minister for Education and Science, Micheál Martin TD set up a working group to investigate the issue of heavy schoolbags and small children.
Following their findings, a major initiative called ‘Schools IT 2000’ was set up to integrate information and communication technologies into education. Almost sixteen years later, and it would seem that the plan has not gained any traction.
Schoolbooks have not been replaced by computers and heavy books are still the norm and as a result, there has been no reduction in backpack weight.
The Irish Association of Chiropractors warn of the dangers in carrying above your weight when it comes to schoolbags. The recommendation for backpacks is that they should not exceed 10-15% of the child’s own weight, yet surveys have revealed that some children are carrying bags which are 30-40%of the child’s own weight.
On their website http://www.chiropractic.ie/ they warn of evidence of lung damage in children carrying bags which are 10% of their own weight.
They go on to explain that if a school bag is too heavy, too big or too small and is not carried properly, there is a danger of Read the full story here http://www.chiropractic.ie
