Schools Yet To Follow Dispur’s Guidelines To Lessen Satchels’ Weight

GUWAHATI: Majority of schools are yet to follow the Assam Government’s guidelines on the maximum weight of school bags or satchels on various pretexts.

“We are working on the guidelines by holding a discussion with various stakeholders including parents and students of the school. Certain guidelines might be difficult to follow in a practical situation. The syllabi of both State and Central education boards are vast and the weight of school bags naturally tends to increase,” principal of a leading private English said.

A notification issued last month by the Commissioner & Secretary of the State Elementary Education department, Preetam Saikia, fixed 1.5kg as the maximum weight of school bags for Classes I and II, 2kg to 3kg for Classes III to V, 4kg for Classes VI and VII, 4.5kg for Classes VIII and IX and 5 kg for Class X. It has also made it clear that schools will have to inform their students in advance about the books and notebooks to be brought to the schools on a particular day.

The notification says the school must ensure that students carry books only according to the timetable and counsel the parents and teachers about health issues arising out of carrying heavy school bags.

A senior teacher of another private school said his school has some queries on the State Government’s guidelines and thus decided to seek clarifications from the Education Department. He was, however, reluctant to spell out clearly as to when his school is going to follow the guidelines.

While the majority of State board’s schools are seen trying to skip the guidelines on various pretexts, some of the schools affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education are arguing that the State Government’s guidelines cannot be imposed on them.

According to the notification, the school must ensure that students carry books only according to the timetable and counsel the parents and teachers about health issues arising out of carrying heavy school bags. The schools should not prescribe additional and supplementary textbooks those are voluminous.

“Students should be encouraged to repack their bags on daily basis and avoid carrying unnecessary articles, textbooks and workbooks that are not needed. The school must frequently check the school bags to ensure that the students are not carrying heavy bags with unnecessary material,” the notification said.

Parents have demanded the State Government to strictly enforce the guidelines. “How long my six-year-old son will have to bear the burden of a heavy school bag. The schools will make various excuses to skip the guidelines. I hope that the government will soon take punitive actions against the erring schools,” Sangeeta Saikia whose son goes to a leading private English medium school said.

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