BENGALURU: Henceforth, school bags cannot weigh more than 10% of the average body weight of students, the state government stated on Friday.
The circular, issued by the department of primary and secondary education, issued clear guidelines on the upper limits that school bags can weigh. As per the circular, bags of students of Class I and II can only weigh around 1.5kg to 2kg while those of Class III, IV and V can weigh 2kg to 3kg.
Students from Class VI-VIII can have their bags weighing only up to 3kg-4kg and those of Class IX and X can weigh up to 5kg.
This direction is binding on schools across the state from this academic year, the circular read.
The move comes in the backdrop of a 2016-17 study conducted by the department of state education research and training in association with the Centre for Child and Law, National Law School of India
University, Bengaluru, on reducing weights of school bags in government, aided and unaided schools in the state. Opinions were also collected from students in this regard.
Bagless day
The order announced that students of Classes I and II should not be given homework. Also, their notebooks cannot exceed 100 pages. Also, schools are directed to observe every third Saturday of the month as ‘Bagless Day’. On this day, teachers are expected to engage students in educational extracurricular and cultural activities.
The order mandates teachers to keep their students abreast about the books required for the succeeding day so students could get only those books and avoid extra baggage. Schools have also been asked to
maintain adequate stocks of essential books such as Atlas and science dictionaries among others.
The order also directs schools to make provisions where students could drop their textbooks instead of carrying them home on a daily basis.