Chinanews, Guangzhou, November 1 – The Qingyang District Education Administration of Chengdu, Sichuan Province, has issued a regulation on the weight of schoolbags of elementary school pupils, saying that the schoolbag of a pupil should be no heavier than 10% of the weight of its owner. However, most pupils in Guangzhou have to carry schoolbags as heavy as 6 kg, much heavier than the 10% requirement in Chengdu.

 

Carrying heavy schoolbags can be harmful to the pupils’ backbone development.

 

Our reporter came to the Jianghai Elementary School in Haizhu District, Guangzhou, on the afternoon of October 30, to check the schoolbags of the pupils of various grades.

 

Tan, a boy of grade 5, carries a schoolbag of 6 kg heavy every day. Though he is rather tall and strong for his age, the bag is still too heavy as he himself is only 42 kg in weight.

 

Luo, a girl of grade 6, has a 5-kg schoolbag. She says that she cleans up her bag every day to make it as light as possible.

 

Everyday, when Luo and Tan walk to school, the bags make them feel rather painful in their necks and shoulders.

 

Then our reporter random-checked the schoolbags of 12 students from each grade, only to find that their weight ranged from 4.5 kg to 6 kg. Some of their schoolbags were suitcases with wheels.