Meghalaya Govt. puts cap on weight of school bags

Guwahati: The Meghalaya government has put a cap on the weight of schoolbags for all classes which will be a major relief for the students carrying heavy school bags. The government has also set restrictions on homework for classes I and II.

According to the State Education Department, the order has been issued keeping in view the directives given by the Union Human Resources Development Ministry for reducing weight of the school bags.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development in a circular which was given last year asked all state and Union Territories to formulate guidelines in order to regulate the teaching of subjects and the weight of school bags that the students carry which left them weak. The move comes as a bid to guard the health and physical development of children.

The government has introduced the circular to start as a pilot project in 25 Kendriya Vidyalaya schools to provide access to textbooks through digital tablets. In April, 2016 CBSE also issued a notice to all the affiliated schools to reduce the weight of school bags for students.

Education Principal Secretary to the Government of Meghalaya D P Wahlang said that the instructions have been issued via notification of setting limits on the weight of the school bags. The notification has been issued in line with the guidelines issued by the Union Human Resources Development Ministry.

The notification said that the weight of school bags for classes I and II has been capped at 1.5kg while those studying in Classes III to V cannot exceed the weight of the school bags above 3 kg.

The maximum weight of school bags of students of Classes VI and VII has been kept at 4kg while the weight of school bags for Classes VIII and IX has been limited to 4.5 kg and for class X the weight of the school bags should not be more than 5kg.

The order also said that schools should make sure that the students should carry only the textbooks that have been mentioned in their time table and that no one should bring extra books.

The department has also barred schools from assigning homework to students of Classes I and II. The schools can only assign homework except in the subjects recommended by CBSE, ICSE or Meghalaya Board of School Education.

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