Bengaluru, May 4: A good news for the school children and their parents ahead of the beginning of a new academic year and a bad news for those who hate them. The Karnataka government has issued an order directing all schools in the State, including government, aided and unaided institutions, to ensure that the weight of a school bag is no more than 10% of the child’s weight.
The Primary and Secondary Education department directed all the DDPIs to implement this order when the schools reopen in June this year.
As per the order, a bag of a student in Class 1 or 2 should weigh no more than 2 kg. It can weigh anywhere between two and three kilograms for students from Class 3 to 5. The prescribed weight increases progressively, with students in Class 9 and 10 allowed to carry bags in the 4 to 5 kg range.
The order also states that the students in Classes 1 and 2 should not be given any homework. Instead, schools must set a timetable in advance, which will limit the number of books that have to be brought to class every day. All classwork should be kept in the school itself, either in files or books.
Managements have been directed to create awareness about the health hazards of lugging heavy school bags. The order also says that schools must provide some space in classrooms where students can store their notebooks and textbooks. Another measure to ease the daily load is to make provisions for drinking water facilities so students don’t have to carry water bottles in their bags.
Schools have also been directed not to ask students to keep books of more than 100 pages, while the third Saturday of every month should be followed as a “No School Bag Day”.
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