School education is an integral aspect of an individual’s life. If we try to visualize the school proceedings in the current context, the first thing that strikes our mind is the exhaustive image of a school going child with an oversize bag hanging down the shoulders. The forward leaning posture and weary face of the child reflects an expression that the bag is quite heavy for the child to carry along. Renowned writer R.K.Narayan has stimulated the collective conscious of the countrymen on this so far neglected issue though very common in sight by making a resounding speech in the Rajya Sabha. NCF 2005 has drawn insight from the report learning without burden (Yashpal committee report , MHRD,1993) and made significant remarks that heavy school bag besides being a source of physical discomfort besides load of non-comprehension i.e. curriculum load. School system needs to offer basic required subjects at every stage as per the school bag Policy 2020 direction. More subjects and text books at all the stages particularly at the primary stage in particular create not only stress of studying but also discomfort carrying those textbooks to school making the bag heavy .Once the school system makes transition from text book dominated culture to learner -centric competence based culture , the issue of heavy bags will automatically be mitigated . Kyphotic and balanced body postures dominate during the period of seven to eight years of age, however, when the child begins to attend school, their time spent in a sitting in a sitting position is extended, which can result in disorders of posture genesis. Hence this period is called “the first critical period of posture genesis” (Katarzyna Walicka-Cupry, et al.2015). Number of research scholars have unanimously concluded that the weight of the school bag should not exceed 10 percent of the child’s body weight, based on the fact that it can affect their spinal posture , foot shape and walking style . The weight of the school bag carried by school going children is primarily related to the individual’s body weight. The other contributory factors that contribute to this load include distance for which the bag is continuously to be carried and the structural layout of the school premises puts additional burden as he has to walk up and down the stairs in multistoried school building. The Para 3.15 of school bag policy and Para 4.26 0f NEP 2020, every school going child will be involved in a fun centric module during grades 6-8 .All students will actively take part in a 10-day bag less span in a flexible slot during grades 6-8 where they will be motivated to intern with local vocational experts such as carpenters , potters , gardeners , artistis etc. Similar internship opportunities to experience vocational subjects will be made available to students throughout grades 6-12. Bag less days will be encouraged throughout the year for various types of enrichment activities including arts, quizzes, sports and vocational crafts.The Expert Group on School bag policy 2020 conducted a survey of schools to get an exact picture of the issues pertaining to school bag in the school system. The core group sampled 352 schools, 2992 parents and 3624 students . In the survey 48.8% school heads responded that they weighed the school bag of their children. Out of this, 19 % of school heads observed from the weight of school bags from primary classes (Ist – 5th) that the bags are heavy. The weight was generally found varying from 2 to 3.5 kg which implies that children are carrying bags of weight 2 to3 kg more than the permissible limit i.e. 10 percent of the body weight which is universally accepted . The weight of the empty bag was also found to be varying from 150gms to 1 kg.77% school heads replied that besides textbooks, the students usually carry lunch pack along with water ( 63.5%) , thick notebooks (38.5%) . According to respondants students were found to less likely carry toys (0.6%) , sports kit (3.2%) , full or nearly full files (2.6%) . Majority of schools reported that students, though drink water at school , yet carry their water bottles with them .38.9% of the school heads thought that handling school bags is a grave problem for the students of 2992 parents surveyed about 77% said that handling of heavy school bag is a serious problem which they often discuss with their child and family and 90.8% parents reciprocated that they often check their children’s bag. The National Curricular Framework 2005 and draft policy of National Curricular Frame work of School Education 2021-2022 recently released for public feedback has strictly recommended only two subjects –language and Mathematics for classes 1st and 2nd. This recommendation though implemented in entirety in Government run institutions of UT of Jammu and Kashmir but private schools totally debunked and junked this recommendation and instead introduced a chain of other subjects like social science, science, General knowledge, Conversation etc for these classes . For classes 3rd -5th beyond the suggested recommendations like Language , Mathematics and environmental studies of NCF 2005 a diverse range of other subjects is especially offered by private schools . While interacting with score of parents whose wards are admitted in reputed private schools of district Anantnag , their ordeal was totally justified that how a kid of 5 years age can manage 14 books . It is not only the matter of weight 14 books, the note books, the lunch pack , water bottle etc further add to the miseries and what will be its repercussions on the psyche and physical health of the child . Besides affecting the health of the child, it has far reaching consequences on the economic condition of the family, where a parent has no option but to buy the books, note books and other stationary articles at whooping cost that too at a designated book shop and not in an open market. A widow parent’s ordeal sent chills down the spine as she was left with no choice but to buy books at an exorbitant cost of 5000 for her grade 3 kids. With the implementation of NEP 2020, the UT government of Jammu and Kashmir made it obligatory via an order that all the schools (including private schools) across the UT shall stick to common curriculum from 6th grade onwards but the unholy nexus of private schools with publishers forced parents to buy parallel set of books besides the recommended one. So instead of following the recommendations of school bag policy 2020 to curtail the weight of school bag, the private schools have further aggravated the problem of the school going child by compelling them to bring an additional set of books.
Recommendations of National school Bag policy 2020 to curtail weight of school bag
School curriculum has strong linkage with the weight of school bag. More number of subjects offered in schools indicates more text books to be carried along and home work on regular basis implies additional weight on tender shoulders
The expert group on National school bag policy 2020 has advocated the implementation of following recommendations for the curtailment of weight of school bag including recommendation on home work and number of subjects offered
1. The committee has recommended to adhere to universally accepted ratio of weight of school bag as 10 percent of the body of weight of the student from classes ist to 12th .
2. Weight of the school bag need to be regularly monitored at the school level .
3. It must be the obligation on the part of the school to provide potable water in sufficient quantity accessible to all the students to avoid carrying water bottle in school bag .
4. Lockers in every classroom for students with bench mark disabilities for sorting and retrieving books and other stationary items
5. The school or classroom time table needs to be flexible providing adequate space for sports and physical education and time slot for reading books in school libraries.
6. For selecting a text book for children, the criterion of weight should be taken into consideration . Weight of each text book may be printed on the text book by the publisher
7. School bag awareness program needs to be held in the beginning of every academic session, wherein parents and students would be sensitized on the issue.
8. As per the recommendations of National curricular framework , subjects such as computer studies , Moral education, General knowledge , like skills , Conversation books etc . need to be infused across the core subjects in the school without additional separate books . Students should not be made to carry textbook for these areas .
9. The issues related to heavy school bag need to be included in the pre-service and in-service teacher education curriculum
10. Concerted efforts through suitable changes in curriculum and pedagogy by NCERT , SCERTs , schools and educators .In consonance with this National Curricular Framework for School Education ( NCFSE 2020-2021) has released its draft report and recommended a practice-based curriculum for grades 6 to 8
Though the National Bag Policy 2020 is in public domain from couple of years but its implementation has not seen the light of the day as it faced multiple impediments especially in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir. A renowned lawyer and Social activist Mr.Badrul Duja filed a PIL before the honorable High Court of Jammu and Kashmir to get the recommendations of National School Bag policy implemented across the schools of UT of Jammu and Kashmir. The Honorable high court passed directions to the department of Education to implement the recommendations of the National Bag Policy 2020 or frame similar guidelines on the pattern of National Bag Policy .In compliance to the directions passed in light of the said PIL , School Education Department had made amendments to the Jammu and Kashmir School Education Act 2002 by inserting rule 8A, which mandates school Heads to regulate weight of school bags and mandated Government to even cancel the affiliation and recognition of the school violating the provisions of Rule 8A.Further an S.O 126 dated 15th of April 2020 in exercise of the powers conferred by section 29 of the Jammu and Kashmir School Education Act , 2002 made the following amendments in J&K School Education Rules ,2010 ,which are
Duty of the school management to ensure that:
I. No home work is assigned to the students of classes upto grade 2nd
II. No formal books are prescribed at Pre-primary level ( Nursery , LKG, UKG). However students of these classes may be provided maximum two note books /work books to be kept in the custody of teacher in the school premises
III. Students of pre-primary level are not supposed to carry any bag except light lunch pack.
IV. No school should prescribe any other subjects except
• Language and Arithmetic for classes 1st and 2nd
• Language, Environmental studies and Arithmetic for classes 3rd to 5th .
• Language , Social sciences , Science and Mathematics for classes 6thto 8th
ⅴ.In any case, the weight of the school bag in proportion to body weight should not exceed the following limit
S.NO. Class Average body weight range ( kg) Bag weight range (Recommended )
1 Pre-primary 10-16 No bag
2 Class 1 16-22 1.6-2.2
3 Class 2nd 16-22 1.6-2.2
4 Class 3rd 17-25 1.7-2.5
5 Class 4th 17-25 1.7-2.5
6 Class 5th 17-25 1.7-2.5
7 Class 6th 20-30 2-3
8 Class 7th 20-30 2-3
9 Class 8th 25-40 2.5-4
10 Class 9th 25-45 2.5-4.5
11 Class 10th 25-45 2.5-4.5
12 Class 11th 35-50 3.5-5
13 Class 12th 35-50 3.5-5
For guaranteed better tomorrow of our children , the recommendations of National Bag Policy 2020 and the guidelines formulated by the School Education department pertaining to weight of school wag need to implemented in totality at the institutional level and every stake holder including parents , school management and concerned citizens have to be on the same page to render our children psychologically and physically fit . The qualitative output of the student should not be determined by the weight of the bag and this ill notion needs to be discarded. We must provide equal space to co-curricular areas and invest in humanistic qualities of the school going child to prepare them for the real life challenges rather than merely relying on bookish knowledge which has become obsolete in 21st century and thus need to hone the 21st century skills like Creativity , Critical thinking , Collaboration and Communication among the modern learners .
(The author is a law student of Kashmir University. The views, opinions, facts, assumptions, presumptions and conclusions expressed in this article are those of the author and aren’t necessarily in accord with the views of “Kashmir Horizon”.)
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