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With the new school year beginning next week, the Education and Manpower Bureau (EMB) has reminded schools and parents to co-operate in an effort to reduce the weight of children's school bags.

"We are very concerned about overweight school bags, in particular the additional stress and fatigue that they may cause for primary and junior secondary students. To reduce the weight of school bags, we need both schools and parents to make a concerted effort," an EMB spokesman said today (August 29).

"According to the precautionary measure recommended by the Department of Health, students should avoid carrying school bags which exceed 15% of their body weight for a long period of time."

At the beginning of the new school year, schools are advised to conduct a campaign to draw the attention of teachers, parents and students to the problem. For example, they may conduct random checks on school bags and inform parents if they are overweight.

The Bureau also suggested that classroom teachers pay extra attention to the weight of students' bags and give individual help and advice, especially in the case of lower primary pupils.

To allow schools more time to review their timetables and choose suitable textbooks, the Bureau in June issued a set of guidelines and a pamphlet on how to reduce the weight of school bags.

According to the guidelines, timetables should be arranged to minimise the number of subjects each day, while lessons which require students to bring a relatively large number of textbooks, exercise books and heavy materials should be spread evenly over the week.

In selecting textbooks, schools should take weight and size into account, as well as educational value for teaching and learning. Teachers are also encouraged to use loose-leaf or single-page worksheets when giving homework assignments and to distribute the worksheets to students one at a time.

The EMB spokesman added that all schools had been requested to draw parents' attention to the adverse effect of overweight school bags and to seek home-school co-operation in dealing with the problem.

"Parents should select schoolbags and items which are made of light-weight materials. They should also remind children to pack their school bags according to the daily timetable and discourage them from bringing unnecessary items to school," he said.

End/Friday, August 29, 2003

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