sentinelgroup@gmail.com
Issue of heavy school bags
Through this letter, I would like to draw the kind attention of the public and concerned authorities to the alarming issue of heavy school bags being carried by students, particularly in private schools. Despite clear directives issued by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, in consultation with the NCERT, many schools are not adhering to the prescribed guidelines.
The directives explicitly state that no homework should be given to students up to Class 2 and specify permissible weight limits for school bags for students of different classes. However, it is disheartening to observe that students continue to carry excessively heavy bags, raising critical questions.
1. Why are private schools disregarding these government instructions?
2. Why are children still burdened with heavy bags despite the government’s emphasis on
their health and well-being?
Carrying heavy school bags for prolonged periods has been proven to cause severe physical health issues, including postural deformities, chronic back pain, and spinal problems. Such risks are especially concerning for children in their developmental years and pose long-term consequences for their physical well-being.
While the government’s initiative to regulate the weight of school bags is praiseworthy, its implementation remains inadequate. Strict enforcement, along with regular monitoring of schools—particularly private ones—is necessary to safeguard the health of students. Penalizing non-compliant schools will ensure adherence to the guidelines.
I humbly urge the authorities to take immediate action to enforce these directives and ensure that schools prioritize the physical well-being of students. I also appeal to the public to support these efforts for a healthier and stress-free learning environment for children.
Heramba Nath,
Hindumaizali, Kamrup.
Slow moving traffic woes
While welcoming the belated decision of the Regional Transport Authority prohibiting all types of rickshaw movement, including battery-operated e-rickshaws on 56 roads of the city, we would also like to urge the concerned authorities to undertake a comprehensive survey of different modes of slow-moving vehicles to put an end to their unlimited introduction in the city and fix the number of permits ward-wise, keeping the public utility consideration on top while granting a permit to ply it in the city. The editorial 'Shifting Guwahati transport to faster gear' published in your esteemed daily on January 22 has rightly said that authorities' regulation of the movement of rickshaws will produce desired results when the number of buses and other fast-moving public transport is equally distributed on all main roads of the city. As the city is witnessing horizontal and vertical expansion, there is a need for extension of city bus services in those areas to prevent frequent movement of slow-moving vehicles on the main roads, which not only worsens traffic congestion but also makes road crossing very risky. At present, the city has witnessed an increased number of green buses. It needs expansion of services of these buses to all bus routes to shift the public transport to faster gear in Guwahati, the gateway to Northeast. If we want to lessen the number of private vehicles on the roads ferrying students to their educational institutions, it is imperative to improve the public transport system and ensure that all schools provide safe and convenient transport facilities, picking up even children who live within the one-kilometre radius of the respective schools. The construction of flyovers is good, but at the same time expansion of existing roads, even by acquiring land as was done in the case of GNB Road, is equally important, along with multi-storeyed parking systems for vehicles parked on the roads, which are hampering vehicles from shifting to a faster gear, apart from causing traffic nightmares. Now, what is needed is strict enforcement of laws to regulate slow-moving traffic and periodical monitoring of the situation to ensure the action of the authorities yields positive results in the near future. It is true that nobody is the sole repository of all the wisdom in the world. Therefore, authorities must take the public into confidence and consult the citizens with honesty and courage to shift our beautiful city's transport system to faster gear like other most large Indian cities.
Iqbal Saikia,
Guwahati.
When education becomes a burden
The recent tragic news of two students ending their lives in Kota, including a young boy from Assam, has left me deeply shaken. These were children, barely 18, with dreams in their hearts and futures ahead of them. Yet, the crushing weight of expectations and the relentless grind of competitive exams pushed them to a point where they saw no other way out. Kota has become synonymous with academic pressure. For many students, it’s not just a place to study but a battleground where their worth feels tied solely to their results. Day after day, they live under immense stress, often feeling isolated and afraid to admit they are struggling. How did we let it come to this? As a society, we need to take a hard look at what we are asking of these children. Coaching institutes and parents must realize that no rank or college admission is worth a young life. There must be safe spaces where students can openly talk about their mental health without fear of judgement. Every institute in Kota should have counsellors on-site, ready to help students navigate their fears and emotions. Parents, too, need to remind their children that it’s okay to falter—that they are loved for who they are, not for what they achieve. These deaths are heartbreaking, but they should also be a wake-up call. Let’s not wait for more young lives to be lost before we act. Mental health needs to become a priority in our education system, not an afterthought.
Dristi Buragohain
Cotton University
Education is tomorrow’s passport
Every individual has the right to be motivated or remain miserable. In other words, the right to education is a person's choice because education is tomorrow's passport. The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; but the willingness to learn is a choice. However, there are lakhs of children for whom education is a luxury. Gender equality and poverty eradication are possible through equitable and quality distribution of education. Almost 250 million youngsters are unable to attend school due to varied factors. Empowering people and fostering peace through "education and learning" cannot be overstressed. Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations (UN) has called for free and compulsory elementary education for all.
Right to education is one of the seventeen sustainable development goals (SDG) that the top humanitarian body of the world—the UN—hopes to achieve by the year 2030. According to the UN, education has the power to reduce inequalities, improve health, and protect and promote a sustainable environment. Hate speech, xenophobia, and intolerance can be fought with the powerful tool called education. Education and knowledge can make a world of difference to men and women in oppressed areas of the globe. They can be the "difference" their forefathers could not be. Adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), International Day of Education on January 24 therefore assumes great significance.
Dr Ganapathi Bhat
Khilafat movement’s impact in India
Far ahead of his time in the Muslim world, Turkey’s military ruler Mustafa Kamal is remembered because he abolished the tradition of ‘Khilafat,’ disbanding the sultanate of Khalifa Wahiuddin thereof. He did not stop here alone. Taking ahead the country to adopt European lifestyle, Arabic script and teachings based on it given in madrasas were replaced by science-orientated education. In 1934, the Parliament of the country unanimously elevated him as their ‘Ataturk’ (Father of the nation). Meanwhile Abdul Majid was chosen as ‘Khalifa,’ but he was a nominal one, and more so, he proved to be the last of the ranks. Driving out the prominent maulvis (Muslim clergies) of the country, women were set free of burqas and given equal rights at par with the men. Exhorting dancing and music, the foundation of flourishing cultural life was laid.
However, fanatics in India like Agha Khan, Amir Ali, and others belonging to Congress and the Muslim League turned hostile to the development, demanding the reestablishment of the supremacy of Ottoman (Usman) Khalifa. This outraged the Muslim community in India, though, but it could reap no support from Turkey and the Muslim world either.
The way the then Indian Muslim leadership reacted here reminds us of what Nehru wrote in his classic, ‘Glimpses of World History.’ He writes, Bengal took the lead in English education of the British, as Calcutta was their capital prior to Delhi. And, therefore, the early supply of the clerks was very largely Bengali. In 1857 three universities were started in Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras. A fact worth noticing is that the Muslims did not take kindly to the new education. They were thus left behind in the race for clerkship and government jobs. Later this became one of their grievances.
Today, Jawhar University, named after Mohammad Ali Jawhar, one of the leading names opposing the abolition of Khilafat, stands in Rampur of UP. With his brother, he even came to Turkey to convey the feelings of Indian Muslims but was sent back empty-handed. So, enraged from the development, he vowed to not be interred on the soil of Turkey. Later, when he died, he was laid to rest in Jerusalem.
Notably during the last days of his life, Mohammad Ali Jinnah eminently supported the concept of a separate state of ‘Pakistan’ for Muslims. And today, being called ‘secularist’ in secular polity, Azam Khan of the Samajwadi Party is associated with Jawhar University.
Er. Rajesh Pathak
(rajeshpathakbpl@rediffmail.com)