“He should be in first grade, but he is studying in second”
Nazira Aytalieva shows the contents of her son Koshoy's backpack. Inside the backpack are a pencil case, four thick textbooks, and several workbooks. “This is my son's backpack. He entered the second grade this year, although by age and development he should have gone to the first. This happened because of the new educational system,” Nazira shares.Her main concern is the double burden that the child faces. The second-grade program, which he entered by skipping the first, turned out to be too complicated for a seven-year-old boy. “As an adult, I find it difficult to explain the material from this textbook, and for him, it is real stress,” the mother asserts.
However, the problem lies not only in the complexity of the content but also in its weight. “Sometimes he needs to take all four books. Try lifting such a load yourself. I wouldn’t want to carry it to work every day,” Nazira adds.
“By the time you get there, you’re already tired”: a child's opinion
Koshoy also confirms that his backpack is very heavy.“These books are heavy. When I lift them, my shoulders start to hurt. I get tired while walking home from school. When I get home, I lie down because I have no strength, and then I go to do other things,” the second grader says, adding that he tried his friend's backpack, which also turned out to be heavy.
Koshoy's older brother Ramazan notes that he helps Koshoy with his backpack: “I help him carry his backpack. Even for me, it’s heavy. My backpack is much lighter,” he says.
Weight of the backpack: 3 kg excluding Art classes
The editorial team of Kaktus.media decided to weigh Koshoy's backpack on a regular school day. He usually has four classes. The weight of just the textbooks and notebooks for three subjects (for example, math, Russian language, “Me and the World”) amounted to 3 kilograms. This does not include supplies for the fourth class — Art, where he needs to bring an album, pencils, and paints. As a result, the actual weight of the backpack significantly exceeds 3 kg.According to established norms, the weight of the backpack for students in grades 1-2 should not exceed 1.5-2 kg. Thus, Koshoy's load in the basic variant is almost twice the norm.
Expert opinion: health consequences
Orthopedist Maksat Mamasadykov points out that regularly carrying heavy backpacks poses a serious threat to children's health.“Children get tired quickly, their muscles weaken. This can lead to valgus deformity of the feet and knees, curvature of the pelvis and spine,” warns the doctor. In the future, such consequences may lead to protrusions, herniated discs, and chronic headaches.
“If a child often has leg pain, it is not always related to growth, as many think. Most often, it is the result of improper load,” the orthopedist adds.
What do parents propose?
Nazira Aytalieva, like many other parents in a similar situation, believes that systemic changes are necessary.- Adjustment of the curriculum: a return to more age-appropriate content at the primary level.
- Technical solutions: keeping heavy textbooks in the classroom or switching to electronic versions.
- Discussion with teachers: the possibility of receiving assignments in electronic format, so as not to carry all the books home.
Other parents from different parts of the country also express their concerns about their children's health.
“The textbooks are too heavy, the program is terrible, and the homework is a real test for students, not appropriate for their age. What did you mean when you created these textbooks?”
“The backpacks feel heavy, as if they are full of bricks.”
“The content of the books is absolutely inappropriate for the age of the children! The tasks on the first pages of the 1st-grade textbooks: ‘Read and write…’ The books are huge, heavy, and incomprehensible! Where is the promised program adapted for six-year-olds?! There are 50 children in the classes, and it is extremely difficult for the teacher to explain and teach the children; all topics have to be worked on independently at home.”
“For the 6-7 year-olds who were immediately enrolled in the second grade, this turned out to be insufficient. Now they have received textbooks and workbooks with a program that is essentially at the 4th-grade level. Moreover, the sizes and weight of the textbooks are completely inadequate for this age. The question arises: what research and norms were relied upon when making such decisions?”
In response to a request from Kaktus.media, the Ministry of Education has not yet provided an answer.
