State yet to lighten school bags

Mumbai: A week after the ministry of human resources and development (MHRD) issued guidelines on reducing the weight of school bags the state is yet to implement them.

The education department is still waiting for an official order from the state. City school students are continuing to carry heavy bags as earlier, even after the MHRD prescribing weight limits.

“We are still waiting for an official circular from the state and only after that, any order will be given to the schools,” said Rajendra Ahire, deputy director of education.

As per the circular, school bags of students from Classes 8 to 10 can weigh between 4.5 kg to 5 kg while for primary students they should weigh only 1.5 kg.

However, since there has been no directive from the state to schools, the schools are still following the old regulations of the Maharashtra government which said that the weight of a school bag should not exceed more than 1/10th the weight of the child.

“The day we get an official government resolution (GR) from the state, our department will direct all the schools and start the inspection work if needed,” Mr. Ahire added.

Initially, before the MHRD circular, the state education department could not completely follow the GR due to lack of staff members for monthly checking in schools.

The Asian Age on November 4, 2017, had reported how the department had no data available on the monthly inspection of the Mumbai and Thane region as no officers were available to carry out inspection. Meanwhile, parents have been repeatedly complaining about the burden of school bags being carried by the students.

“My daughter has 10 lectures in a day and she has to carry 10 textbooks, some workbooks and a couple of rough books. It would be better if schools either cut some lectures or allowed students to skip some books twice or thrice a week,” said Vasant Shelke, a parent.