The Ministry of Education rolled out a new School Bag Policy for 2020 in which it is stated that the school bag weight for students should weigh 10% of their body weight. This suggestion was on the basis of various surveys and studies conducted by the NCERT.
The Ministry had shared the School Bag policy 2020 with other state governments as well in November 2020.
Latest context related to School Bag policy 2020 –
- The Directorate of Education has issued a circular asking the schools to follow the new ‘School Bag Policy, 2020’ released by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).
- As per the circular-
- school teachers should inform the students in advance about the books and notebooks to be brought to school on a particular day and frequently check their bags to ensure that they are not carrying unnecessary material.
- In order to reduce the weight of the school bag, it is the duty and the responsibility of the school management to provide quality potable water in sufficient quantity to all the students in the school so that they do not need to carry water bottles from their homes.
- Teachers should take the responsibility of checking the weight of school bags of the students every three months on a day selected for the whole class and any information about heavy bags should be communicated to the parents.
- As per the circular-
This article will give further details about the new policy within the context of the Civil Services Examination.
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Details of School Bag Policy 2020
Along with slashing the weight for school bags, the policy also suggests that no homework up to class 2. For classes 3, 4, and 5 homework hours should be limited to 2 per week. For classes 6,7 and 8 a maximum of 1 hour per day. From classes, 9 to 12 two hours per day should be allocated for homework.
The new policy suggested that the homework given must suit the individual interests of students. In other words, teachers should create ‘interesting homework’
To ensure that optimal weights of school bags are followed, the policy suggested that every school must have a digital weighing machine to ascertain the weight of the bag.
As per government sources, the new School Bag Policy is in line with the New Education Policy released by the government in June 2020.
Why is the School Bag Policy 2020 required?
Heavy School Bags are a serious threat to the health and wellbeing of the students. It has a severe, adverse physical effect on the growing children which can cause damage to their vertebral column and knees. It also causes anxiety in them. Moreover, in the schools which are functioning in multistoried buildings, the children have to climb the steps with heavy School Bags, which further aggravates the problem and health consequences.
This heavy load is caused by the fact that the children bring textbooks, guides, homework notebooks, rough work notebooks etc., to the classroom every day. Therefore, clear Guidelines of what school item must be bought every day must be clearly outlined.
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Relevant Questions regarding School Policy 2020
Why is it important to have an appropriate school bag?
Many children carry heavy and badly fitted school bags and struggle when lifting them on stairs, or during the walk to school. Carrying a heavy bag that doesn’t fit may cause increased muscle tension, and may lead to back pain and the long term development of bad postural habits.
What other suggestions have been made by School Bag Policy 2020?
One of the suggestions made by the policy is that a school bag needs to be light-weight with proper compartments, and should) contain two padded and adjustable straps that can be squarely fit on both shoulders. Wheeled carriers should not be allowed as it may hurt children while climbing stairs.
School Bag policy – Download PDF Here
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