BENGALURU: The Department of State Educational Research and Training (DSERT) has instructed government schools across the state to continue the Sambhrama Shanivara (Celebration Saturday) for the academic year 2024-25. All schools will have to hold one Saturday of every month as a ‘bag-free’ day for students.
The programme aims to encourage creativity in students through activities like playing, singing or listening to stories apart from learning from textbooks. The idea is also to reduce the burden of carrying heavy bags to schools every day.
“It has been ordered to celebrate one Saturday as a bag-free day every month with the aim of making children learn lessons cheerfully, without burdening them on the subject and giving them a pleasant learning experience,” DSERT said in a notification.
To ensure that the initiative is implemented properly, DSERT also ordered schools to submit reports on the initiative and undertake progress meetings at the district, block and cluster levels. District and BEOs need to ensure that schools undertake the initiative without fail.