BENGALURU: Following the recent circular issued by the Union Ministry for Human Resource Development (MHRD), in which states have been asked to frame policies to reduce the weight of school bags, the State Department of Primary and Secondary Education is looking at the option of reducing the content in textbooks to achieve this goal.
According to sources in the department, reducing the content in textbooks was one of the options put before the state government and was also discussed at various levels, including school management.
“Reducing the content will bring down the size and the weight of textbooks. We already have a research report and an expert committee report on how the weight of bags can be reduced.
All these recommendations will be discussed before any guidelines are issued prescribing the weight of bags,” said a senior department official.
However, officials said that if the decision to reduce content was taken, it would be possible only during the next revision exercise for school textbooks, which could happen after three years. Meanwhile, based on the MHRD circular, the department has decided to form a committee which will visit schools and check for the usage of non-prescribed books.
“There are complaints against some private schools about introducing non-prescribed books from respective boards which adds to the unnecessary weight on kids’ shoulders. This will be monitored carefully in the state,” added an official.