I REFER to Wednesday's letter by Ms Fong Ching Min, 'Schoolbags: 5 ways to lighten the load'.

I am concerned that small-built Primary 1 pupils lugging around their large and unwieldy backpacks are made to climb steep flights of stairs to the fourth floor of Rosyth School to reach the hall for assembly before classes start each day.

There is another covered assembly area on the ground floor, but when concerned parents suggested recently that this be used instead, the answer from the school was that climbing the stairs to the fourth floor would help 'build character'.

That may be so, but I hope the pupils do not fall and injure themselves in the process.

Feng Tian Quan

This article was first published in The Straits Times on January 15, 2009.