A weigh-in of 50 secondary- school pupils last week found that, on average, they were carrying the equivalent of 16% of their body weight. International guidelines recommend no more than 10%. More than one in three students (36%) were carrying in excess of 20% of their body weight on their back, or, worse, on one shoulder.
Parents’ groups and health experts have expressed concern at the findings, especially as a child’s immature spine is susceptible to damage.
The average secondary student’s bag weighed in at 19lb — the equivalent of 20 large tins of baked beans.
One 14-year-old boy in the third year at a northside Dublin school was hauling books and gear weighing 2st 9lb — the equivalent of 17 bags of sugar — in two bags, because he could not fit them all in one. Another third year’s bags weighed 2st 5lb.
The school does not provide lockers, so children have to take their belongings to and from home each day. Another pupil with two heavy bags had to stuff his football up his jumper. “I’ve nowhere else to put it and I have to take it home,” he said.
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Khloe Dillon-Coote, 13, a second-year pupil in another Dublin secondary school, was carrying a bag that was 30% of her body weight. Her mother, Mandi, said: “I think it is disgraceful. My daughter’s bag weighs more than 2st.”
Joe O’Brien, the father of a first-year pupil, said: “The weight of school bags has increased so much since we were at school. I had to hand my daughter’s bag back to her because I wasn’t able to carry it.”
Students in a community school in Co Westmeath had the heaviest bags on average, with 20% of body weight the norm. Tommy Walshe, of the National Parents Council — Post Primary, who assessed the Westmeath bags for The Sunday Times on Friday, said: “I am concerned at these figures. On other days, the kids are bringing home even more books. It’s alarming.”
At Sacred Heart secondary school in Westport, six pupils were carrying more than 20% of their body weight.
Mary Ryan, the principal, said: “The weight of school bags is a serious issue. We are aware that parents are worried about it. We provide lockers and encourage pupils to manage their timetable in relation to the number of books they are carrying. Parents can also pick up books after school hours.”
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A study of 100 10-year-olds conducted by two physiotherapists in 1996 found that children were carrying on average 11.4lb, or equivalent to 15.2% of their body weight.
Sara Dockrell, a lecturer in the school of physiotherapy at Trinity College, Dublin, and one of the authors of the report, recently completed a similar study of second-level students. She said she found similar readings to The Sunday Times.
“Various studies have shown that if you go too much above 10%, posture and the way you walk are affected,” she said.
“If you are carrying a bag on your back, you will lean forward a lot more. If you carry it on one shoulder, you will be pulled to one side and have a scoliosis: your spine will bend. Carrying it symmetrically and as close to your body as possible is the best way.”
Dockrell was also part of a working group set up in 1997 by the Department of Education to examine the problems caused by heavy school bags. All the department has done with its recommendations, though, is to circulate them to schools, outlining measures that could be adopted to best alleviate the problem.
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“Bags are getting heavier and the Department of Education needs to do something about it; they’ve been shelving it for quite some time,” said Virginia Cantillon, of the Chiropractic Association of Ireland.
“I am concerned at the amount of weight kids are expected to carry. Their bones and muscles are developing, and carrying that sort of weight will put a lot of extra pressure on them. There is a risk of back trouble in years to come.”
Mary Darlington, of the National Irish Safety Organisation, said:
“Not all schools provide lockers, so students are forced to take their books home with them every night, even if they need only two or three for homework.”
A survey of 25 primary-school children found they were carrying up to 19% of their body weight. The average was 10%, the guideline amount.
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Additional reporting: Aine Ryan