The Directorate of Education has issued a circular asking school to follow the new ‘School Bag Policy, 2020’ released by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).

Q.What are the features of the School Bag Policy, 2020? Discuss how heavy school bags are a serious threat to the health and learning capability of students.

School Bag Policy, 2020

• According to the circular, schoolteachers should inform the students in advance about the books and notebooks to be brought to school on a particular day.
• They frequently need to check their bags to ensure that they are not carrying unnecessary material.
• It adds that the teachers should take the responsibility of checking the weight of school bags of the students every three months on a day selected for the whole class.
• It also holds that any information about heavy bags should be communicated to the parents.
• The circular also says that it is the duty and the responsibility of the school management to provide quality potable water in sufficient quantity.
• It adds that files and thin/light exercise books should be preferred to thick/heavy ones.

Prescribed weights

The weight of the school bags, as per the policy, should be

• 6 to 2.2 kg for students of Classes I and II
• 7 to 2.5 kg for Classes III, IV and V
• 2 to 3 kg for Classes VI and VII
• 5 to 4 kg for Class VIII
• 5 to 4.5 kg for Classes IX and X
• 5 to 5 kg for Classes XI and XII

Why heavy school bags are a curse?

• Heavy school bags are a serious threat to the health and well-being of students.
• A heavy backpack can pull on the neck muscles contributing to headache, shoulder pain, lower back pain and neck and arm pain.
• Not just this, carrying backpacks over one shoulder is a wrong practice as it makes muscles strain.
• The spine leans to the opposite side, stressing the middle back, ribs, and lower back more on one side than the other and this muscle imbalance can cause muscle strain, muscle spasm, and back pain.
• Heavy school bags are also one of the major reasons for cervical and lumbar pains.
• The posture of the body also gets affected to a great extent which in the long term develops imbalances in the body and affects the health of the nervous system.

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