A bill seeking to require all schools to provide armchairs for left-handed students has been filed in the Senate.
Senator Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, author of Senate Bill No. 2114, said the bill aims to promote equal development of students by requiring educational institutions nationwide to provide left-handed armchairs for left-handed students.
“Currently, left-handed students are left without a choice but to work with right-handed armchairs,” Angara said.
He said studies showed that a right-handed armchair does not offer left-handed students the same arm support that right-handed students enjoy, causing back, neck and shoulder pain to left-handed students.
“The inefficient and awkward writing position that left-handed students must adopt in right-handed armchairs causes slower handwriting, placing them at a disadvantage on important timed examinations,” Angara said.
In the United Kingdom, campaigners are calling for the government to recognize school room struggles which hamper the development of left-handers.
Experts said thousands of left-handed school children are struggling in the classroom because of the failure to meet their needs.
Studies say that there are between 10 to 15 percent of the population worldwide that are left-handed.
Lauren Milsom, author of Your Left-handed Child and co-founder of the website Anything Left-handed, said pupils were often unable to use the mouse in computing lessons and find scientific instruments such as microscopes, with controls on the right, harder to reach.
Pupils may be underachieving in subjects such as English, science, computing, cookery and design technology because of lack of specialist equipment and “ignorance” of left-handedness among teachers,” an article published by the Telegraph claimed.
For his part, Angara said it was high time the government should address the plight of the left-handed students by providing them left-handed armchairs.
Angara said the passage of the bill into law would make it an obligation for all educational institutions, both public and private, to provide “appropriate” armchairs to left-handed students.
SBN 2114 is a counterpart bill of House Bill No. 7109 filed by Representative Cristina Roa-Puno.
