Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi
New Delhi, Dec 9: The education ministry has recommended a list of measures under the new school bag policy. The recommendations include capping the maximum weight of the school bags at 10 per cent of the student’s weight. The ministry also suggested that there should be no homework till Class 2, along with making provisions for lockers in schools, digital weighing machines to check the weight of the bag and suspending of the wheeled carrier or trolley school bags.
"Based on research studies conducted in this area, recommendations of international agencies about the standard weight of school bag, it is recommended to follow the universally accepted ratio of weight for school bag as 10 per cent of the body weight of the student across classes 1 to 10," the policy document stated.
The policy further recommends that school bags should have proper compartments. "Schoolbag needs to be light-weight with proper compartments, and (should) contain two padded and adjustable straps that can be squarely fit on both the shoulders. Wheeled carriers should not be allowed as it may hurt children while climbing stairs," it reads.
"Schools need to ensure that the facilities which are mandated for schools to provide, such as mid-day meals etc. are adequate and of good quality so that children are not carrying items, such as a lunchbox. 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 a water bottle in a schoolbag or reduce its size," the document stated.
The policy suggested the implementation of a time table that can provide adequate access to sports and physical education. Even the weight of textbooks is to be considered while recommending them.
"For selecting a textbook for children, the criterion of weight should be taken into consideration. The weight of each textbook may be printed on the textbook by the publishers, along with the Grams per Square Meter (GSM)," it said.
The new policy document recommended that there should be no homework for students till Class 2. Even for senior Classes of 9 to 12, the homework should be limited to a maximum of 2 hours. For Classes 3 to 6 the homework is limited at 2 hours a week and for Classes 6 to 8 it is recommended at a maximum of 1 hour a day.
"As children in Classes 1 and 2 are too small to sit for long hours doing homework, they need not be given any kind of homework. Rather they need to be encouraged in the class to speak about how they spent their evening at home, the games they played, the food they ate, etc," the document proposes.
"At this stage, children develop the habit of sitting little longer with concentration, so they can be given homework such as writing a story, an essay or an article on contemporary issues; writing an article about the problems in the locality; measures for saving electricity and petrol, among other things," the policy suggests.