The Education Ministry has released a new policy on school bags in the era of Covid 19 pandemic.
As per the suggestions, the weight of school bags for students between classes 1-10 should not be more than 10 percent of their body weight.
In a statement, it said, “Based on research studies conducted in this area, recommendations of international agencies about the standard weight of school bag it is recommended to follow universally accepted ratio of weight for school bag as 10 percent of the bodyweight of the student across classes 1 to 10.”
Schools have been asked to keep a digital weighing machine on school premises and monitor the weight of school bags regularly. Schools need to ensure that the facilities which are mandated for schools to provide, such as mid-day meals, etc. are adequate and of good quality so that children are not carrying items, such as a lunchbox.
“It will be the duty of the school management to provide good quality potable water in sufficient quantity that is accessible to all the students in the school,” it further added.
The recommendation also mentioned that the school or class time table needs to be made flexible.
“It should provide adequate space for sports and physical education, reading of books available in a school other than textbooks, etc. For selecting a textbook for children, the criterion of weight should be taken into consideration. The weight of each textbook may be printed on the textbook by the publishers, along with the Grams per Square Meter (GSM),” it said.
The new policy also talks about homework at different levels, starting with no homework for children up to Class 2, and a maximum of two hours of homework every day for children in Classes 9 to 12.
Students of classes 3, 4, and 5 should be given a maximum of two hours of homework per week. For classes 6 to 8, the homework should be a maximum of one hour a day.