Lockers help solve weighty problem

By REBECCA WALSH education reporter

Lockers are making a comeback at secondary schools around the country after concerns about the weight students are lugging between classes.

This year, a Massey University study found that secondary students carried weights up to twice the recommended industrial level for adults of 4kg to 6kg.

And almost three-quarters of the 140 Auckland third and fourth-formers surveyed complained of feeling pain or discomfort in their muscles or joints.

The students were carrying books, sports gear, laptop computers and musical instruments all day because of a lack of lockers and secure places to leave their belongings.

Fourth-former Willem van Gent once weighed his school backpack, and it tipped the scales at 15kg. The Mt Albert Grammar student remembers that as a particularly heavy day.

"I had my books, my design tech work, my PE gear, my lunch of course. It all really does weigh it down. Sometimes I have to carry around some woodwork."

The 14-year-old is typical of secondary school students around the country who cart around backpacks that look more like they are embarking on a four-day trek than a day at school.

Fellow Mt Albert Grammar student Danica Atkins, 13, found that her load was so heavy she started getting a sore back.

But the problem was simply solved - the school has put in 100 extra lockers - and one of them is hers.

"It's much easier. My back is fine now. Sometimes my back would be quite bad with lower-back pain. Now I just get my books when I need them."

The extra lockers doubled the number available. Principal Greg Taylor said the first 100 were installed earlier this year when the school went co-educational.

"Girls' parents were more worried about them carrying gear around."

The lockers were rented out on a first-in, first-served basis and were big enough for text books and school lunches.

Mr Taylor said the school provided places where students could leave musical instruments and sports gear but that had not always proven popular.

Tom Robson, principal of Te Awamutu College and president of the Secondary School Principals Association, said locker demand had outstripped supply at his school but it did not have the internal corridor space to install any more.

"Some of these students have a long way to travel between classes. With this great pack on your back you must feel like you are going on a trek. I wouldn't feel happy about it if I was a third-former and that's why we are trying to do something."

Brent Lewis, principal of Aotea College in Porirua, said his school had installed 100 industrial-strength steel lockers this year to lighten the load students carried and to provide somewhere secure for them to store their belongings.

The lockers cost $10,000 and more would be put in if needed.

Mr Lewis said that, like many other schools, Aotea College had ripped out its old lockers because of maintenance costs and problems with theft.