In a transformative stride toward reimagining India’s education landscape, the State Council of Educational Research and Training – Kashmir Division (SCERT-KD) has emerged as a beacon of innovation, spearheading a series of capacity-building programmes aimed at elevating teaching standards and ensuring the effective implementation of multidisciplinary education reforms. In this alignment, the State Council of Educational Research and Training – Kashmir Division (SCERT-KD) recently conducted a two-days Capacity Building Programme focused on the innovative implementation of “10 Bagless Days”. The programme witnessed enthusiastic participation from approximately fifty education professionals, including DIET faculty, lecturers and Vocational Trainers from different trades. The event aimed at equipping educators with the vision, tools and pedagogical strategies necessary to reimagine learning experiences beyond conventional classroom routines. “10 Bagless Days,” as advocated by NEP 2020 and reiterated in the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2023, encourages schools to designate ten days each year when students engage in experiential, hands-on activities instead of carrying textbooks and notebooks. The target group of this initiative is students of class 6th to 8th whose age varies between 11-14 years. The reason for this initiative to be taken at this stage particularly; could be best explained by the Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory which explains this as the best stage (Stage 4: Industry Vs Inferiority, Overlapping with Stage 5: Identity Vs Role Confusion) for it’s implementation. Stage 4 is characterized by a child’s desire to demonstrate competence, master skills, and earn recognition from peers and adults. When students are encouraged and praised for their initiative, they develop a sense of industry, feeling capable and productive. If they are overly criticized or fail to meet expectations, they may develop feelings of inferiority and doubt their abilities. Also Stage 5 is highly relevant to the “10 Bagless Days” initiative, especially for students in Classes 7th and 8th who are entering early adolescence. At this stage, adolescents are beginning to ask: Who am I? What do I value? What am I good at? Bagless days offer a safe, structured space to explore these questions through Vocational exposure, Creative expression, and Collaborative projects. Thus, the role of teacher is emphasized to be merely not as content transmitters, but as facilitators of curiosity and exploration. According to Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory, this age group is transitioning from Concrete Operational to Formal Operational stages wherein the students can think logically about concrete events but are just beginning to handle abstract reasoning. Thus, Bagless days provide concrete, experiential learning—ideal for bridging this cognitive shift.
“SCERT-KD is focused on enhancing the educational experience by providing educators with the necessary vision and strategies to promote joyful, skill-oriented learning. This approach encourages students to engage in hands-on activities, critical thinking, and meaningful connections with their environment. The innovative programs implemented by SCERT-KD aim to transform schools into dynamic spaces that foster curiosity, celebrate creativity, and empower every learner to succeed. Through these initiatives, the organization is nurturing a generation of students equipped to thrive in an ever-evolving world.”
Spending the “10 Bagless Days” effectively means transforming school into a space of joyful, hands-on, and meaningful learning which can be achieved through:
1. Vocational Exposure: Invite local artisans, farmers, carpenters, potters, or weavers to conduct workshops. Let students:
• Try basic skills like pottery, carpentry, or stitching.
• Visit nearby workplaces or farms to observe real-world applications.
• Reflect on what they learned through storytelling or drawing.
2. Arts, Culture & Heritage Days:
• Organize folk music, role plays.
• Conduct storytelling circles with elders from the community.
• Explore local history through visits to monuments or museums.
3. Science & Nature Exploration:
• Setting-up of herbarium of locally grown plants.
• Set up simple science experiments using household materials.
• Plan nature walks or biodiversity mapping in the school garden.
• Host a “Science in My Life” day where students present innovations from their homes or villages.
4. ICT & Digital Literacy:
• Introduce basic coding or animation using free tools like Scratch / Stopmotion.
• Let students create digital posters or short videos on social issues using Canva or InShot.
• Explore safe Internet practices and digital ethics.
• Enrich student’s vocabulary using tools like wordwall.
• Engage students in different game based learning tools like Gcompris.
• Involve students in activity-based learning using virtual labs like OLABS.
• Explore different places of world through Virtual Reality.
• Comprehend the difficult concepts using Augmented Reality.
5. Life Skills & Well-being:
• Conduct sessions on communication, empathy, and teamwork.
• Practice yoga, mindfulness, or storytelling for emotional literacy.
• Role-play real-life scenarios like disaster preparedness or first aid.
6. Interdisciplinary Projects:
• Integrate math, art, and environment in a project like “Design a Sustainable School.”
• Use local data like data of rainfall, crops to create charts and stories.
• Encourage group projects that solve a community problem.
The British Educationist, Sir Ken Robinson eloquently wrote, “Creativity now is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status.” The “10 Bagless Days” initiative, as championed by SCERT-KD, is not merely a departure from routine but a reimagining of education itself—rooted in developmental psychology, grounded in experiential pedagogy, and guided by national educational reforms. By equipping educators with the vision and strategies to facilitate joyful, skill-oriented learning, SCERT-KD is nurturing a generation of students who learn by doing, thinking, and connecting with their world. It is through such innovative programmes that schools can become spaces of possibility—where curiosity is kindled, creativity is honoured, and every learner feels empowered to thrive.
(The authors are teachers by profession. The views, opinions and conclusions expressed in this article are those of the authors and aren’t necessarily in accord with the views of “Kashmir Horizon”)
Mohd Asif Jan & Saima Shafi
