According to Dr Shabbir Awan, a consultant on orthopedic spinal surgery at a private hospital in Islamabad, more than 10 per cent of a child’s bodyweight, heavy schoolbags can cause permanent damage to spike, neck and back.

“Heavy schoolbags lead to strain, fatigue and physical discomfort among children and thus, affecting their attentiveness and ability to learn,” he told Dawn.

Dr Shabbir said lagging behind in academics could cause anxiety among children affecting their self-esteem and even the children wanted to drop out of school.

According to him, it has been observed that besides textbooks and notebooks, the schoolbags also carry lunchboxes, water bottles, geometry boxes and sports materials. “Children in urban areas carries books for tuitions, too.”

The expert said an overloaded or incorrectly worn backpack created stress on the spine, which could cause a child to lean too far forward and experience distortion of the natural curve of the spine, rolling their shoulders and causing a more rounded upper back.

He said some students wear their bags on only one shoulder, and they might walk tilted to one side and suffered neck pain.

“If the bag straps are too thin, they can dig into the shoulder muscles and strain the neck,” he added.

Dr Shabbir said no proper data was available on how many children are suffering from backache in the country due to heavy schoolbags He, however, said his clinical study revealed that a large number of parents complained of their school- going kids suffering from back and leg pain.

“There is no proper data but during my clinical practice, I have seen scores of children complaining of back, neck, shoulder and leg pain. After careful examination of the children’s history, heavy schoolbags turned out to be the culprit. I am going to release a detailed report of my study in a couple of weeks regarding children having problems with their heavy schoolbags, which is akin to child labour,” he said.

According to the expert, said backpack should not weigh more than 10 per cent of a child’s body weight.

“As for the incidence of back problems in children aged 12-17 years, around 61 per cent of children, according to my study, carry more than 10 per cent of their bodyweight on their backs on a daily basis.

I have checked the weight of dozens of schoolbags and found them to be weighing from 5kg to 10kg, which is nearly 40 per cent more than the recommended weight of schoolbag,” he said.

Dr Shabbir suggested that the school authorities consider making it compulsory for parents to provide their children with trolley-like bags as used by air travellers, who pull their luggage on wheels.

This, he insisted, could be a viable solution to the problem since no amount of advising children is working because they do not want to be admonished by their teachers for not bringing the required textbooks, notebooks and workbooks.

“They (children) prefer carrying the weight than being scolded. Their woes need to be addressed,” he said.

The expert intends to bring out an Urdu book ‘Basty, bachay auor bichari kamar (heavy schoolbags, children and their delicate back)’ carrying suitable tips for school authorities, parents and children. According to him, his daughter, Aleena, seven-year-old third grader, always complains of backache and pain in legs due to swelled-up schoolbag on returns from school.

Mrs Ali Jan, a mother, said at times, her daughter panted carrying heavy backpacks and struggled to take meal properly.

“I talk to her teachers several times to allow my child to reduce unnecessary books and picks but to no avail,” she said.

During a visit to a few private and public sector schools located on Warsak Road in Peshawar, small kids were found making similar complaints.

“I feel fatigue and an acute pain in my right shoulder as my schoolbag is very heavy. Sometimes I cannot sleep. Our teachers do not teach all books I carry to school but they force us to bring our school bag full of everything listed in the syllabus,” Gulalai Afridi, 8, a 4th grader, said.

Professor Shahabul Mabood, a senior teacher heading ‘guidance and counselling’ programme in a school of Peshawar, said some private schools had multiplied misery of children by introducing three versions of a subject instead of one.

“Pakistan Studies has three books (history, social study and geography). Similarly, Urdu has three books (prose, poems and grammar) and English, too, has three books (poems, grammar and composition). A separate workbook for each subject in addition to homework notebooks are also there,” he said.

Shabana, in charge of the junior section in a public sector school of Peshawar, said bags of public sector school were not that heavy but still small kids carrying bags full of food items, sometimes toy guns and other unnecessary things, came to school scaling a long distance without transport facility. She said children carrying heavy bags suffered from backache and shoulder’s pain.

According to doctors, while choosing backpacks for children, parents should ensure that they (backpacks) have wide shoulder straps, which are comfortable and sit well on the shoulder; they have waist and chest straps to help transfer some of the load to hips and pelvis, and a padded back-support that allows the pack to fit ‘snugly’ on the back.

They said bags with wheels were a great idea to take the load off the children’s back if parents could afford.

“The backpack must fit the child. Don’t buy a big pack to ‘grow’ into when sitting with the backpack on, The pack should not extend higher than the child’s shoulders,” a doctor said.

According to experts, parents should consider the following five things when their children start going to school.

• Backpacks should always weigh less than 10 per cent of your child’s body weight. It will help avoid causing health problems at a crucial stage in the child’s body development.

• The children should be organised when they pack schoolbags. Parents should check their timetable to ensure they are carrying only what they need in school.

• The load is close to the spine by packing the heaviest items nearest to the children’s back and lighter away from the back in the schoolbag.

• Children must wear both straps at all times as strap on one shoulder results in neck and shoulder pain.

• Parents should contact the doctor if they are concerned about their child's posture or back health.