BENGALURU: Seven-year-old Zainab often complains of backache from carrying her heavy school bag. This third-standard student has four to five books for each subject and her school does not have a clear, reliable timetable, so they carry all the books every day.“She is unable to concentrate on her studies because she is exhausted when she gets back home,” says her mother Rizwana. Children like Zainab, who are below ten years old, can develop a deformity in their spine from a heavy bag.
The Department of Public Instruction, the government authority of schools in the state, proposes to have a 'No Bag Bay' in all schools from next year. While the measure has been welcomed by many schools and students, a question to ask is this - what happened to the recommendations of a group of experts to bring about a permanent solution to the issue of heavy school bags, given around one year and six months ago?
The recommendations included providing space for books in schools, change in instruction medium and even using a lighter material to cover each book. But none of these have been considered to ease the burden on Zainab and children like her.
Niranjanaradhya VP, fellow, Centre for Child and the Law, National Law School of India University, who was part of the committee says, "The no bag day initiative is a piecemeal approach to the problem of heavy school bags. It is a ridiculous measure. The state education department should know better than to issue such short-term solutions to a problem that is not just of physical burden but also one of mental burden," he says.
The Ministry of Human Resource Development had made the issue of school bags a talking point in its Central Advisory Board of Education meeting in July 2015. On November 2015 it proposed some measures on the same and asked states to implement the same voluntarily. Following this, the state government took a proactive step and immediately formed a committee of experts of around 40 members comprising of education department officials and academicians to suggest ways best tackle the issue of school bag weight.
Infact,the committee members even carried out a sample survey of around 24 schools in the city. "We submitted a scientific report on the issue. If they had a problem with the report they could have asked for changes or even call for a new study. I have nothing against the no bag day, but a holistic solution to the problem is required," adds Aradhaya.
School managements are annoyed that they were not consulted by the committee. Shashi Kumar D, general secretary, Associated Management of Private Un-Aided English Medium School in Karnataka (KAMS) that comprises around 2,900 state board as well as central board schools, says, "Each school can initiate measures on their own. We do not need the recommendations of a committee.
In any case, they never consulted us on the matter. In my own school, I have initiated ways to tackle the issue which have been successful however it will take some time to pass on the same learning to other schools of my association." Most of the schools under the association are "budget" schools.
