Still no survey to check weight of schoolbags

Mumbai: Five months since schools have opened and there is still no survey to check the weight of schoolbags, as was directed by the Maharashtra government through a government resolution (GR) in 2015.

The GR said that the weight of schoolbags should be 1/10th the weight of students, which means if a student weighs 40kg, his schoolbag should weigh no more than 4 kg. The GR further said that the department would conduct “surprise checks” in all schools where weight of the schoolbags was measured by officials.

This year, a notification was once again sent to all schools in June, directing education officers (EOs) in Mumbai, Thane, Raigad and Palghar to implement the school bag policy.

However, a source close to the department said, “For the past four months, we have been busy with first year junior college (FYJC) admissions, which too, started in June. Hence, it is very difficult to manage.”

When this newspaper asked the deputy director of education officials to show data of the survey conducted of all schools in Mumbai city, they claimed that data for Mumbai and Thane was not available.

When contacted, B.B. Chavan, deputy director of education, Mumbai division, said, “Though we don’t have the data, a monthly survey is conducted and sent to the Maharashtra Government.”The policy of reducing the weight of schoolbags was initially framed by the Bombay high court after Swati Patil, a city-based activist filed a PIL raising concern over heavy bags. Patil said,  “I inquired in schools near me and with the children but they said they haven’t seen any officers at their schools to measure the weight of schoolbags and conduct the survey. Moreover, they have changed the syllabus of class seven and class nine students this academic year, making the weight of textbooks a bit heavier,” Patil told The Asian Age.