Government is sponsoring backpack awareness days next week amid concerns that schoolchildren are carrying too much weight.

Primary 5 and 6 students will have a weigh in to find out how much they are lugging to school each day.

Sessions will be held at Victor Scott Primary school on Monday and Purvis Primary School on Wednesday.

American experts estimate that 50 percent of children are carrying too much weight in improperly worn backpacks.

Occupational therapist Holly Sinclair said: "Each day school children and teens across the Island carry backpacks overfilled with books, PE clothes, and other items that create a strain on their growing bodies.

"As an occupational therapist who works with children in the public school system I see first hand the health problems that heavy backpacks can cause."

Safety tips include using both straps on a backpack and using the belt. Experts also say children should not carry the equivalent of more than 15 percent of their body weight.