CLARK FREEPORT – After filing a bill requiring special desks for left-handed students, Sen. Lito Lapid said here he will also back up a proposal to limit the weight of school bags children carry to school.
“I did not finish college, so I really want to provide every opportunity to children to finish schooling up to college by ensuring that all health-related measures, among other considerations, are put in place for them,” Lapid said in Tagalog in an interview here.
Lapid, who was reelected in the last May polls, admitted that despite his years in the Senate, he remains uncomfortable with the English language. In his first year in the Senate, he moved that all official documents in the Senate be also translated into the national language.
Lapid said he will also file in the Senate a bill to serve as counterpart for the proposal to be re-filed soon by reelected Pampanga 1st district Rep. Carmelo Lazatin limiting the weight of school bags to a maximum of 15 percent of the body weight of a pupil.
In the last Congress, Lazatin introduced House Bill 6644, An Act Limiting the Amount of Bags Carried by Children in School and Implementing Measures to Protect School Children’s Health from the Adverse Effects of Heavy School Bags.
The bill was not passed but Lazatin said the proposal would be among the first he will introduce in the 15th Congress.
Lapid joined Lazatin in appealing to authorities of both public and private schools, particularly in the elementary level, to already observe their proposal pending the passage of their bills. This amid reports that many pupils bring school bags that weigh as much as 50 percent or even more of their body weight.
Lapid and Lazatin said they would cite in their bills medical studies citing dangers to health posed by heavy school bags. They cited a 1988 study conducted by the Hong Kong Society for Child Health Development showing that 4.54 percent of Grade 3 to Grade 6 students who carried heavy bags experienced back problems ranging from mild to serious spinal deformities.
Another study conducted in 1994 in Scandinavian countries also showed “high probability” for spinal problems in children who carry heavy backpacks. The study found 53.7 percent of the children who carried backpacks on one shoulder complained of back pain, while 45 percent of two-shoulder backpack wearers also made such complaints.
The study also revealed that girls tended to experience more backpack-related pains than boys.
Lapid agreed with Lazatin in the observation that the brisk sales of huge school bags with wheels are testimonies to the widespread problem of heavy loads that school children are burdened with daily.
“The wheels may provide some ease, but along the way, you can be sure that the kids have to lift them one way or the other. This they have to do daily for years unless we put a stop to it,” Lapid said.
On his first day at the Senate after the last elections, Lapid had filed the “left-handed bill,” which sought to require public and private schools to make desks for left-handed students. His Senate Bill No. 31 or the “Comprehensive Handedness Act of 2010” calls for “educational programs that (are) responsive to the handedness preference of students.”
Lapid also vowed to file bills granting free medical aid to indigents and another bill giving permanent insurance to Filipino athletes.
Lapid’s bill for left-handed students directs the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to implement guidelines ensuring that schools in the country provide left-handed desks and educational materials to their left-handed students.
It also mandates the Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC) to provide appropriate arm chairs to left-handed students who take licensure exams.
In his bill, Lapid also urged the formation of a Philippine Handedness Research and Training Institute (PHRTI) to further research on left-handed Filipinos, and for the nationwide information campaign for left-handers.
“This humble measure is being proposed with the hope that this intervention will address the horizons of concerns faced by our left-handed school children who have to struggle and face difficulties in a right-handed-oriented school system,” Lapid said in his bill.
“I did not finish college, so I really want to provide every opportunity to children to finish schooling up to college by ensuring that all health-related measures, among other considerations, are put in place for them,” Lapid said in Tagalog in an interview here.
Lapid, who was reelected in the last May polls, admitted that despite his years in the Senate, he remains uncomfortable with the English language. In his first year in the Senate, he moved that all official documents in the Senate be also translated into the national language.
Lapid said he will also file in the Senate a bill to serve as counterpart for the proposal to be re-filed soon by reelected Pampanga 1st district Rep. Carmelo Lazatin limiting the weight of school bags to a maximum of 15 percent of the body weight of a pupil.
In the last Congress, Lazatin introduced House Bill 6644, An Act Limiting the Amount of Bags Carried by Children in School and Implementing Measures to Protect School Children’s Health from the Adverse Effects of Heavy School Bags.
The bill was not passed but Lazatin said the proposal would be among the first he will introduce in the 15th Congress.
Lapid joined Lazatin in appealing to authorities of both public and private schools, particularly in the elementary level, to already observe their proposal pending the passage of their bills. This amid reports that many pupils bring school bags that weigh as much as 50 percent or even more of their body weight.
Lapid and Lazatin said they would cite in their bills medical studies citing dangers to health posed by heavy school bags. They cited a 1988 study conducted by the Hong Kong Society for Child Health Development showing that 4.54 percent of Grade 3 to Grade 6 students who carried heavy bags experienced back problems ranging from mild to serious spinal deformities.
Another study conducted in 1994 in Scandinavian countries also showed “high probability” for spinal problems in children who carry heavy backpacks. The study found 53.7 percent of the children who carried backpacks on one shoulder complained of back pain, while 45 percent of two-shoulder backpack wearers also made such complaints.
The study also revealed that girls tended to experience more backpack-related pains than boys.
Lapid agreed with Lazatin in the observation that the brisk sales of huge school bags with wheels are testimonies to the widespread problem of heavy loads that school children are burdened with daily.
“The wheels may provide some ease, but along the way, you can be sure that the kids have to lift them one way or the other. This they have to do daily for years unless we put a stop to it,” Lapid said.
On his first day at the Senate after the last elections, Lapid had filed the “left-handed bill,” which sought to require public and private schools to make desks for left-handed students. His Senate Bill No. 31 or the “Comprehensive Handedness Act of 2010” calls for “educational programs that (are) responsive to the handedness preference of students.”
Lapid also vowed to file bills granting free medical aid to indigents and another bill giving permanent insurance to Filipino athletes.
Lapid’s bill for left-handed students directs the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to implement guidelines ensuring that schools in the country provide left-handed desks and educational materials to their left-handed students.
It also mandates the Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC) to provide appropriate arm chairs to left-handed students who take licensure exams.
In his bill, Lapid also urged the formation of a Philippine Handedness Research and Training Institute (PHRTI) to further research on left-handed Filipinos, and for the nationwide information campaign for left-handers.
“This humble measure is being proposed with the hope that this intervention will address the horizons of concerns faced by our left-handed school children who have to struggle and face difficulties in a right-handed-oriented school system,” Lapid said in his bill.
