I weighed it and was horrified.
Muscovite Natalia had to take her son to an orthopedist after he developed posture problems. She suspects his heavy schoolbag is to blame.
"We weighed my sixth-grader's backpack—it weighed 7 kilograms, including his change of clothes."- explained Natalia.
Another mother is also concerned about her daughter: after school, the girl goes swimming and takes a bag with her school books containing her swimming equipment. The mother claims her daughter's backpack weighs at least 10 kilograms.
"There might be a slouch, poor posture. The child will get used to walking in this position. They're the ones who lug these backpacks around like sacks."- says traumatologist-orthopedist Victoria KokinaAccording to her, back pain may also occur.
According to health regulations, first- and second-graders' backpacks should not weigh more than 1.5 kilograms. Third- and fourth-graders' backpacks should weigh up to 2 kilograms. Fifth- and sixth-graders' backpacks should weigh 2,5 kilograms. Seventh- and eighth-graders' backpacks should weigh up to 3,5 kilograms. High school students are allowed to carry up to 4 kilograms.
Modern schoolchildren's school bags weigh 2-3 times more than required by regulations.
Teachers don't deny the problem, but they also don't see a way out of the situation.
In 2015, Rostec announced the development of school tablets that would accommodate the school curriculum and weigh just over one kilogram. In 2017, such tablets handed out schoolchildren from four municipalities in the Sverdlovsk region. Things didn't go any further. In 2024, it was discovered that the development of the school tablet kidnapped 13 billion rubles. In the same year, the Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced Mass production of school tablets, but only for teachers. Nothing more is heard about mass production of tablets for schoolchildren.
Photo: Msk1
