On reading my old friend, Vincent Chetcuti’s contribution (May 31) on very heavy school bags, I was spurred to voice my concern on the same subject.

As soon as my grandsons came back from school I asked them to do two things before sitting down for lunch: weigh their school bags and themselves. It resulted that the school bag of the younger one, who is in Form 1, weighed 12 kilos while his body weight was 43 kilos. The older one, who is in Form 4, weighed 50 kilos while his school bag weighed 13 kilos. From this information it results that the 12-year-old is carrying 28 per cent of his body weight while the older one is carrying 26 per cent. It is to be noted that both school bags had empty water bottles and empty lunch boxes. On inspection, both bags did not contain any material, books, copybooks and files, which should not have been there on that particular day.

This problem has been going on for far too long and it is about time it is solved by the authorities. The suggestion of having and using school/class lockers is not a solution as books and materials are also needed at home for homework. It would be interesting if readers suggest ways and means how we can eliminate this hardship, which I consider as another form of child abuse suffered by our schoolchildren. I believe we have a government organisation called “child protection unit”. Why haven’t they voiced their concern? What are they waiting for?