Sunday, May 2, 2010

A heavy burden for kids to bear

Sistem Pelajaran Malaysia Makin Rosak
Kita di Malaysia ni bukan jalan ke depan, tapi jalan ke belakang. Lagi teruk dari zaman Jepun agak nye.

Patut makin maju, makin 'paperless' , tapi tak, makin maju makin berat beg budak sekolah. Kalau di Terengganu pula pelajarnya mungkin beg berat pun kena bawa, komputer e-book pun kena bawa.

Bayangkan, budak bawa beg sekolah satu pertiga dari berat badan.

Letaklah otak di kepala, jangan letak otak di kepala lutut, terutamanya para menteri dan para ketua pengarah dan pengarah pelajaran.

SEMAKIN RAMAI BUDAK SEKOLAH SAKIT TULANG BELAKANG (SCOLIOSIS) PAK MENTERI HOI. INI KATA PAKAR, BUKAN KATA ORANG POLITIK.

Hanya akhbar NST berani membicarakan isu beg sekolah berat ini. Akhbar Melayu masih meneruskan dengan iklan judi mereka.

**************************
A heavy burden for kids to bear
2010/04/27

THE average Malaysian child's schoolbag weighs more than one third of the child's weight.

Our children's backs are suffering from the constant heavy load, with doctors treating younger patients for back problems.

SCOLIOSIS, A CONDITION WHERE THE SPINE FORMS INTO AN S-SHAPE SIDEWAYS, HAS BECOME ALL TOO COMMON, ACCORDING TO THE MALAYSIAN PHYSIOTHERAPY ASSOCIATION.

Heavy text and workbooks coupled with other school-going items are causing more children, especially girls, to suffer from scoliosis.

"A child should never carry more than 15 per cent of his or her body weight. But we see children lifting (bags weighing) about 10kg to 12kg nowadays," MPA president Dr Balwant Singh Bains told the New Straits Times yesterday.

"Children are naturally active. They run with their schoolbags. The effects are worse when they're going up or down the stairs," he said.

Carrying such weight every day stresses the developing bones. Scarily, he said the effects of any back problems, especially scoliosis, only show years later.

"It's a silent intruder. So, children between 7 and 11 are thrashing their spines," he said.

It is only when a child is about 12 that an adult notices the first signs of scoliosis.

"Most parents stop giving their children their baths when they're about 7. They'll usually miss the signs until someone else points them out."

Scoliosis does not hurt, so the child would not usually realise any changes in their body. Many parents have mistaken scoliosis for puberty or light injury sustained from playing.

Depending on the seriousness and form, scoliosis can be treated with special exercises. But it takes about three years for a spine to heal.

In serious cases, the sufferer would have to undergo surgery to implant metal pins into the spine to straighten and support the body.

"It's a long and painful surgery. The recovery period is also painful and long, about eight to nine months."

An average of 12 young scoliosis patients come in to visit Dr Bains every month.

He believes that if there is no change to the education system, the number will only rise as the population grows.

"We must change the system. Children's textbooks should only (contain) lessons for one semester. So, each semester you bring a different book," he said.

Exercise books should be thinner too, at only 20 pages per book. Ideally, it should be paperless, he said.

" Malaysia is not the only one suffering from this problem. Look at the other countries and learn.

"It's a crime allowing our children to suffer because of this," he said.

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/12EMB/Article/index_html

Just leave the books in school, say parents
2010/04/27

LOCKERS and leaving books in classrooms are some of the suggestions given by several groups on the long standing issue of schoolchildren carrying heavy bags.

He said although schools could provide lockers, it would be expensive, and suggested that the only way lighten to students' bags would be to reduce the number of books carried to school everyday.

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/13klp/Article/index_html

Parents resort to carrying schoolbags themselves
2010/04/27

UNABLE to see their children carry the heavy load, many parents have resorted to carrying the bags to the school compound themselves.
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/12pta/Article/index_html

'Use trolley bags, even if it's uncool'
2010/04/27

WHEN 15-year-old Thiveena Vijayan's petite body first showed signs of scoliosis, her mother dismissed them as part of puberty.

Thiveena, then a 13-year-old, would moan and whine about her hips, which she said was "bigger and rounded" on one side.

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/12bone/Article/index_html

No comments:

Post a Comment