Dikhyaa Mohanty 
School students, especially the Junior School, are often burdened physically by carrying heavy bags with many books and Notebooks. Taking almost every book and notebook leads to giving pain and burden to the back of a child.
Looking at this matter, the Education Ministry has recommended the maximum weight of school bags, which should be 10 percent of the student’s weight. According to the report, this is among a slew of measures being suggested by the Centre, keeping in mind the newly-introduced National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The Policy documents stated –”Based on research studies conducted in this area, recommendations of international agencies about the standard weight of school bag, it is recommended to follow university accepted ratio of weight for school bag as 10 per cent of the body weight of the student across classes 1 to 10.”
It is even recommended that the schoolbags have proper compartments and need to be lightweight that should contain two padded and adjustable straps that can be easily squarely fit on both the shoulders. The wheeler carriers should not be allowed to hurt the back of the children while walking or taking stairs.
Mid-day meals with adequate and good quality should be mandatory for schools to provide to the children. This will help the children not to carry their own Tiffin or lunch box. The school’s responsibility is to provide proper water facilities and healthy and hygienic lunch to the students so that the children will avoid carrying a water bottle and Tiffin box that will eventually reduce some weight.
Apart from the weight, the other significant recommendation is no homework until class 2 and digital weighing machines to check the bags’ importance. And for grades 3 to 6, the homework should be limited to 2 hours a week; for 6 to 8, the maximum time will be 1 hour per day. And for the senior classes, i.e., 9 to 12, two hours per day should be the maximum time for the homework.
Article Written by Dikhya Mohanty
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