Parents welcome move to lighten the load of kids

GEORGE TOWN: Let’s say a pupil’s textbook has 300 pages. To solve the heavy schoolbag problem, some parents literally “rip” that book into three volumes of 100 pages each.

By doing so, their children will not need to lug the book with 300 pages all year round.

Homemaker WK Yoong, 40, said some book-binding shops have offered such services – “rip” the textbooks apart and rebind them nicely.

“I spent about RM50 for this so-called ‘book cutting’ service on eight textbooks.

“I also had to buy the textbooks,” said Yoong, who has a son in Year One this year.

On getting lockers at schools, Yoong said she feels that the move is not feasible, adding: “If all the books are kept in lockers, how are they going to do revision at home?”

She said that among the measures recommended by the school’s management are bringing an empty water bottle and using school bags without the wheel trolley.

“The school said children can refill water at the dispensing machine while trolley school bags with wheels can give additional weight to the bag,” she added.

Housewife Ooi Phaik Ling, 40, said the government is heading towards the right direction with this latest initiative.

She said her son, who is in Year Two, had to pull his bag up the stairs to his classroom on the first floor.