A primary school student has broken her collar bone because her book bag was too heavy.

VietNamNet Bridge – A primary school student has broken her collar bone because her book bag was too heavy. This news has concerns among parents, who believe that their children must bear schoolbags that are too heavy.

Xuan, 9, came to the hospital in HCM City for a medical examination after she felt pain in her shoulder.

Huynh Ba Linh, a doctor from Van Hanh Hospital, examined the X-ray and discovered that her left collar bone was broken. Linh believes that the main cause was her heavy schoolbag, which Xuan must carry everyday to school.

Physicians of Nhi Dong 1 Hospital in HCM City admit that a lot of primary school students have been found as hunchbacked or having altering spinal columns due to prolonged wear of heavy schoolbags.

“Children can only carry things equal to 1/10 of their weight. We have found that schoolbags of primary school students are much heavier,” a doctor noted.

Xuan’s schoolbag, for example, weighed 4.5 kilograms, while she is only 25 kilograms. Xuan walks two kilometers to school daily with the heavy bag.

Once news of Xuan’s injury spread, a lot of parents called newspapers and complained about heavy schoolbags.

Nguyen Thi Ha in District 4 in HCM City, said that previously, her third-grade daughter packed her schoolbag alone, so she had no idea it might be too heavy. After reading in the newspaper about Xuan, she weighed her daughter’s the schoolbag and, to her surprise, it weighed five kilograms

“I can say for sure that, except the small bottle of water, all the other things in the schoolbags were textbooks and necessities for lessons,” Ha observed. She intimated that the bag was too heavy because too many things were necessary for lessons. “It is lucky enough that everyday, my daughter only has to walk five minutes from our home to school,” she added.

With a child studying at primary school, Thao in HCM City, remarked that, each day, her daughter must bring a schoolbag full of textbooks to school. It is estimated that there are about 10 textbooks, and all are thick and heavy.

“I feel sorry for her and I walk with her to carry the schoolbag myself to school,” Thao revealed.

All parents have concluded that bookbags are much heavier than in the old days. They point out that textbooks and notebooks are much thicker, too.

“My son is now in fourth grade. He weights less than 30 kilograms, but his schoolbag alone weights five. The schoolbag would be even heavier on the last days of weeks, when he has to carry more things from school. It’s too heavy for me, let alone a small child,” argued Tuyet in District 4.

According to VnExpress newspaper, in HCM City, many schools ask parents to purchase two sets of textbooks, one set for school and one for home. With two sets, students will not have to carry heavy textbooks back and forth. However, it is not easy to implement, especially in suburban schools.

Source: VnExpress