Schools in Mumbai gear up with 'No Bag' initiative once a week 

Despite several attempts by education boards and complaints from parents, heavy school bags have been a definitive burden for school-going young shoulders. Now, some schools in Mumbai are finally gearing toward a 'No Bag' initiative in schools at least once a week. 

To encourage children's physical and psychological well-being and to foster a stress-free learning environment, the state's education department, education boards, and even courts have frequently emphasized the need to minimize school bag weight for kids. 

These bag-less days will be filled with different activities like clay molding, letter-tracing, coloring, reading, recitation, arithmetic, listening skills, speaking skills, fine motor skills, art and astronomy workshops, leadership camps, festival celebrations, Model United Nations, performing arts, sporting events, quizzes, group discussions, etc. Schools like Orchids - The International School, Jamnabai Narsee School, Children's Academy Group of Schools, etc. have been at the forefront of this progressive initiative.   

The common effects of heavy school bags on students are fatigue, muscle strain, back pain, distortion of the spine’s natural curves, rounding of the shoulders, poor body posture, and short attention span. In extreme scenarios, carrying heavy school bags can also cause cervical and lumbar pains. 

Evidently, the heavy school bags have led to pain in the lower back, shoulders, and hands of the students, but these problems often go overlooked and misunderstood as growing pains, wrong posture, sedentary lifestyle, and other reasons.

Earlier, the government and educational boards have already made a number of initiatives and promised to lighten the weight of school backpacks. A few court decisions have instructed the state governments to create regulations to stop children from carrying large school bags. Additionally, committees have occasionally been formed to discuss the problem of kids carrying heavy school bags.

However, no regulation or policy was put into effect to lessen the strain on the students, and parents have often complained about how their children are being urged to bring extra notebooks to class.