‘My 6-Year-Old Weighs 21 Kg, His Bag Is 4.5 Kg’: Man Raises Alarm Over Son’s Heavy School Bag

Concerns around children’s health and schooling often come to the surface through everyday observations. This time, a father’s post about his young son’s school bag has triggered a wider conversation about how much physical burden children are being asked to carry at an early age.

Recently, Balu Gorade from Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra, raised the issue on X (formerly Twitter) after weighing his six-year-old son’s school bag. The post struck a chord with parents online, many of whom said they had faced similar concerns.

Father Flags School Bag Weight In Maharashtra

Balu shared that his son, who studies in Class 1 and weighs 21 kg, was carrying a school bag and tiffin weighing 4.5 kg which is well above the recommended limit of 10 per cent of a child’s

body weight.

“My son is in 1st standard and weighs 21 kg. He carries a 4.5 kg load (bag + tiffin), while the rule says it should be under 10 per cent of body weight,” Gorade wrote.

To highlight the issue, he posted a photograph of the bag and tiffin placed on a weighing machine and questioned whether parents routinely check how much weight their children carry to school.

“I have raised this multiple times with the school. Have you ever checked your child’s school bag weight?” the post added.

Yes. And this is a real issue.
4.5 kg on a 21 kg child is way too much, rules exist for a reason.
Many schools quietly ignore this because it’s inconvenient to fix timetables, lockers, or homework policies. The long-term cost is on the child’s spine, posture, and fatigue.…

— Uday Sharma (@udaysharmatech) January 6, 2026

Parents Share Similar Experiences

The post sparked a discussion among parents, many of whom shared their own frustrations with school bag policies.

One user suggested, “This should definitely change. Even during our school days this was a norm. But now due to technology this can change. 21 per cent is way too high for any child. Some things which USA or foreign countries have: No daily carrying of all books. Lockers in schools. Digital textbooks.”

A woman shared, “I studied in Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Baroda. They had lockers for kids to keep their books and a homework period. We barely carried a heavy school bag. That was 40 plus years ago. Surprising that nobody has done that in so many years.”

“Now there are 3-4 books every subject. Instead of reducing school bag weight, schools are increasing weight by asking for more books and increasing book prices,” someone else alleged.

A person pointed out, “My daughter is in senior KG, and she sometimes carries 6-8 books in her bag. I haven’t weighed it, but it feels too heavy! The school day is only 3.5 hours, and I don’t understand the logic behind carrying 6-8 books.”

“No wonder most kids from the cities grow up and stay hunched from their shoulders for rest of their lives,” an individual remarked.

“Typical problem of a conventional education system. It was back then when we were students and it will be for decades to come. A single petition may not help the cause, a group petition may just do wonders, who knows,” read another comment.

What The School Bag Policy Says

According to the Ministry of Education’s School Bag Policy (2020), formulated by bodies including NCERT, CBSE, Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas, a student’s school bag should not weigh more than 10 per cent of their body weight.

As per the guidelines, the recommended school bag weight is:

Classes I–II: 1.6 to 2.2 kg

Classes III–V: 1.7 to 2.5 kg

Classes VI–VII: 2 to 3 kg

Class VIII: 2.5 to 4 kg

Classes IX–X: 2.5 to 4.5 kg

Classes XI–XII: 3.5 to 5 kg