School Bags Should Weigh Less Than 10% Of Student’s Body Weight; No Homework For Students Till Class II: Education Ministry To Schools
Mrunal Jadhav
Pune, December 9, 2020: In lines with the recommendations made in the new education policy (NEP) 2020, the ministry of education has told schools to ensure school bag weight for students should be below 10 percent of their body weight. The weight of the bags of the students studying in the Std I have been fixed on average 1.6 to 2.2 kg, while the weight of the students studying in class XII will now be between 3.5 to 5 kg on average. No bags for children studying in pre-primary.
The education ministry has directed all states and union territories to implement the new rules to reduce the burden of the school bags on students strictly from the next new academic session. The ministry has also instructed schools to facilitate weighing machines to check the weight of the student’s bag, provide good quality potable water to avoid carrying water bottles, no homework for students upto Std II and no school bag for pre-primary students. Students studying in Std III, IV, V can be assigned homework for two hours per week, whereas homework for students of Std VI-VIII should be one hour daily and Std IX-XII should be for two hours daily.
There will be a total of three books for the Std I students, which will weigh 1,078 grams. There will be a total of six books for students studying in XII, whose weight has been fixed at 4,182 grams. The Ministry of Education had constituted a high-level committee to determine the weight of the bags of the students. The committee has finalised it after a detailed survey.
To ensure the school bags are light-weighted, they have recommended estimated digits for the weight of books — 500 grams to 3.5 kg, while the weight of notebooks will be 200 grams to 2.5 kg. The weight of the lunch box will also be between two hundred grams to one kilogram and the weight of the water bottle will be between two hundred grams to one kilogram. The total weight of the bag will be 10 percent of the bodyweight of the student.
