It is a typical Hong Kong scene. Every morning, students roam the streets, their heavy school bags an almost back-breaking burden. To make matters worse, some of them carry extra bags of books in hand. Though a few schools provide lockers, they never seem to be big enough.
However, mainland students will soon get 'electronic school bags' weighing only 800 grams.
The device, developed by a mainland information technology company, is smaller than a notebook computer, but has memory space for 30 million Chinese characters, Internet access, e-mail and other functions. There is also a database of reading materials and exercises.
Because of copyright issues, textbook material is yet to be installed. The situation has been made more complicated this year because curriculum reforms have allowed 14 publishers to operate in the mainland. Earlier, there was only one state-owned publisher.
Before the end of the year the new school bag will be tested in some 500 primary and secondary schools throughout the mainland.
But some teachers have expressed concern over the move. They fear the large amount of easily accessible information may confuse students. Some also predict it will be a long time before the new technology is widely accepted. After all, the device - at 2,650 yuan (HK$2,530) - is too expensive for many parents.