Nandini Nayar Sometime in June, when most schools reopen for the new academic year, you will spot at least a couple of photographs in the newspaper of small children bowed down under the weight of their enormous school bags. Accompanied by a thought provoking caption, these photographs hold our attention for some time and then we go back to packing our child’s school bag. Occasionally a politician or activist says something about the number of books children need to carry. Shock and outrage is expressed in indignant “Letters to the Editor”. The indignation is picked up by enthusiastic reporters and results in a couple of eye-opening articles on what the school-going child has to suffer in the name of education. But soon all this passes, and little attention is spared for the literal burden the child is forced to carry to school everyday. There is a collective amnesia on the part of parents and educators. A few months into the academic year, even the practical aspects and worries of going to school with heavy bags are submerged under more immediate concerns about exams, handwriting and fears that the child may require tuitions. Earnest meetings with school teachers and note-sharing sessions with other parents invariably concentrate on issues of this sort. The problem of the school bag pales in significance. Bent under the weight of these items, each absolutely “essential” for surviving a day at school, the child wends his way to class. The mind boggles at an education system that demands this kind of slave labour in the name of acquiring knowledge. What’s sad is that invariably it is the younger children who end up carrying huge loads to school. Try reasoning with a child of the primary class, explaining that he doesn’t need all the books at school everyday and that they can be safely left at home. All the books, this tiny child will announce firmly, are needed everyday at school. If you actually remove those that you think are not necessary, you can be sure that these will be sneaked back into the bag. Suggest that some of the books or notebooks be left at home till they are actually needed at school, and the teacher reacts with horror. And woe betides any child who actually leaves a notebook at home. Disgrace and almost certain punishment await him. This brings one to the question – is the acquisition of knowledge linked to the number of books carried to school everyday or even