Schools have reopened for the new academic year. It has become a common sight to see little children going to school carrying oversized school-bags full of books. One cannot help but feel sorry for these little kids who are forced to carry such heavy baggage. Their body is just not made to carry heavy load at such a young age.
At times parents are seen helping their children carry the school bags. But this is not always possible, special for children who travel by the school bus. Carrying heavy school bags can have a detrimental on the bone structure of the children, specially, the vertebral column, which can prove to have dire consequences and even lead to orthopedic problems as children grow up.
The question to be asked is why subject little children to such physical hardship when they are already burdened with mental work as they try to cope-up with the studies in the new class? Is it absolutely necessary for children to carry so many books to school day-in and day out? Is there no solution to the problem?
The schools could probably evolve a system whereby the children do not have to carry so many books every day to school. Some of the note-books can be left behind in the classroom itself so that only those note-books where homework is assigned for the day could be carried back home and to the school the next day. Children could be provided with lockers in the school where they can keep their books instead of carrying them home.
For school students studying in the higher classes the tabs, lap-tops and desk-top computers which have been distributed by the government through the cyberage scheme could be put to better use so that students are able to copy the study material in the pen-drives instead of carrying heavy note-books. We need to make things simpler and easier for the school children.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
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Helmet and RTO
Even though many feel that helmet rule is a burden, most of the riders respect the law as at the end of the day it can save a precious life.
However the manner in which the RTO and local police issue challans is condemnable. They descend where ever and whenever they feel like to implement the rule. Why are the police enforcing the helmet in the cities specially at the State Bank of india in Margao. It’s within 30 kph and that is a very hazardous area and not the right place for cops to issue challans.
Why are the cops not issuing fines to the buses for overcrowding when the limit says only 20 standing and it all happens right under their nose but the cops prefer to over look.
Dixon Vaz, Margao
