Picture this! The weight of school bag at the back of a six-year-old student studying in one of the renowned schools in Ranchi varies anywhere between 7 and 8 kgs, say parents. The weight (of the bag) is one third of an average school going kid.
Ironically, a number of schools in the State Capital have not yet implemented the guideline circulated by their respective institutions on reducing the burden of school bags on the school children. Though Central Board of Secondary Education had already issued a circular in 2006, 2007 and 2008 respectively to reduce the load of school bags to all the schools affiliated to CBSE.
“Burden of school bags on school children is a vital issue, so regarding this matter we have given instructions to certain government schools that children will not carry unnecessary burden of books and after the school gets over kids are suppose to leave there books in school itself,” said HRD Secretary, Aradhana Patnaik.
“We have started this on a pilot basis in few Government schools and we are planning to expand this plan in near future,” she added. The matter was brought in the limelight when parents and different association protested against the issue in April 2015. Earlier in April a joint meeting with the DC was held in which all the school principals were invited to discuss the matter so that a strict action can be taken.
“We are trying our best to deal with issue but we too face certain practical hindrances such as parents’ sometime needs to check the performance of there wards and in this case they too require books and notebooks and due to this children need to carry books everytime”, said Ram Singh, Principal, DPS Ranchi.
“Right now we have introduced a workbook system in certain classes to curb this issue. Workbooks are kept here in the school premises and we do not allow kids to carry it back to their home,” Singh added.
But parents want the school administration to look into the matter seriously. “My son studies in nursery and he had to carry almost 10-12 books everyday, it becomes difficult for him to bear the burden of the heavy weight bag”, we have often raised the issue in every parents teacher meet but we have not received any positive response from the school management yet”, said Amrita, a homemaker and a mother of 5 years old son.
On the other hand Manohar lal, State coordinator of CBSE said, “We have not received any circular and guideline from the board regarding this subject yet but we have already implemented this in nursery sections in several schools”.
A circular issued by the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) in 2009 also suggests certain norms. According to the KVS guideline children should not carry extra weight on their backs, as it leads to various health problems like spinal disorder.
According to the KVS guiding principle, the maximum weight of a school bag for Classes I and II should be 2kg: for Classes III and IV, 3 kg; for Classes V to VII, 4kg; and for Classes VIII to XII, 6 kg.
“Our organisation is compelling all the private schools to sign the draft on this issue of reducing the burden of school bags. But we have not received any positive sign from the school management yet. The draft which was prepared in April 2015 is still pending,” said Ajay Rai of Jharkhand Abhivhavak Manch.
“Even the Jharkhand HC has directed on the matter but so far no action has been taken by the concerned authorities.