Govt wants cap on weight of schoolbags

The union education ministry is preparing a policy on school bags-2020. It has suggested  that the weight of a schoolbag across classes 1 to 12 should be 10% of the body weight of the student carrying it. Students of pre-primary classes should carry no schoolbags at all and  there should also be a ceiling on the weight of textbooks and a mechanism to check the weight of bags at schools.The policy — in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) — also suggested that there should be no homework up to Class 2. Homework requiring a time of maximum of two hours a week is allowed for Classes 3 to 5, five-six hours a week for classes 6 to 8, and 10-12 hours a week for classes 9-12.

Following a direction by the Madras high court in May 2018, the education ministry formed a team of experts in October that year, with Ranjana Arora, the head of the Department of Curriculum Studies at National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), as its convener to formulate a policy on schoolbags. This team conducted a survey across the country covering 350 schools, nearly 3000 parents and over 3600 students. While 38.9% of the school heads said they felt the burden of schoolbags was a problem, 77.7% of the parents and 74.4% of the students surveyed had a similar view.

Under the school bag policy, the panel said every school needs to keep a digital weighing machine on the school premises.A school bag needs to be lightweight with proper compartments, and contain two-padded and adjustable straps that can be squarely fit on both the shoulders, it said. Wheeled carriers should not be allowed as they may hurt children while climbing stairs, the policy document, seen by HT, said.Schools should ensure that mid-day meals are adequate and of good quality so that children don’t have to carry lunch boxes, it added.

“It shall be the duty and responsibility of school management to provide good quality potable water in sufficient quantity accessible to all the students in the school to avoid carrying water bottle in school bag or reduce its size,” it said. The policy document also said the weight of each textbook could be printed on it by publishers. It added that lockers in classes may be installed for students with disabilities for storing and retrieving books and other items. The issues related to heavy school bags need to be included in the pre-service and in-service teachers’ education curriculum, the document said.