16 August 2018
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Carrying a schoolbag is a routine for most of the children. However, the growing weight of school bag and its effect on health of the children is a serious concern for every parent. In 2016, a survey conducted by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) under its Healthcare Committee in ten Indian cities has found that 68 percent of school children under the age of 13 years across India are leading to serious spinal damage and irreversible back problems. The survey noted that over 88 percent of children in the age group of 7-13 years carry more than 45 percent of their weight on their backs including lunch box, water bottles, art kits and sports kits every alternate day. The survey also reported that on an average, a child from this age group carries 21 books for a day’s seven to eight periods. A similar survey by PRATHAM MYSORE on the weight of school bags across schools in Mysore concluded that the weight of school bags in surveyed schools varies from 4 kg to 11.5 kg[1]. Another survey[2] in Bengaluru found that the highest burden of the school bags is in private schools.
Unfortunately, there is no law in India to regulate weight of school bags. Though certain guidelines have been issued by different executive and legislative institutions time to time but those are not obligatory in nature. The most prominent among them is Children School Bags (Limitation on Weight) Bill[3], which was passed by Rajya Sabha in 2006. As per the bill, “appropriate Government to ensure that there shall not be any school bag for a child studying in nursery and Kindergarten classes and for children in other grades, the weight of the school bag to be carried should not be more than ten percent of the weight of the child”. The Bill states that schools need to issue guidelines regarding the size and fabric of school bags and every school should provide lockers to each student in the school up to class eighth in order to enable them to keep their sports equipment, books and note books in the school. The bill clearly mentions that schools violating the rules made there under shall be liable for fine up to three lakh rupees. Regarding delegated legislation, the Bill empowered Union Government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the Bill.
However, till date except for a few measures, Union government has not issued any legislation to address this issue. In 1993, MHRD appointed Prof. Yashpal Committee report, ‘Learning without burden’, stated that young children should not be compelled to carry heavy bags to schools. In 2010, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) introduced a ’load shedding’ policy in 981 schools across India on pilot basis and set an upper limit of school bag across grades. However, the guideline was not followed rigorously across states. Recently, as a policy towards reducing weight of school bag, KVS has launched another pilot project of providing tablets to all class VIII student in 25 KVs to promote digital learning.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), too, framed guidelines for all its affiliated schools where students do not carry school bags till Class II and for other grades, schools to take all possible measures to keep the weight of school bag under control. Again, they are not being made mandatory and there is no regulatory mechanism to implement the policy.
The norm under Right to Education Act, 2009 for provision of safe and adequate drinking water facility in schools to some extent could reduce the load of the school bag by excluding the weight of the water bottles; however, there is no specific norm under RTE regarding the weight of the school bags.
The primary responsibility to draw up syllabi and corresponding text books lies with the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) at the national level and with the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) at the level of States. As per the propositions by MHRD, recently, NCERT has reworked on the curriculum and recommended only two books (Language and Mathematics) for classes I & II and three books for Classes III to V (Language, Environmental Studies and Mathematics).
However, all these measures by Union government are not legally binding. Moreover, as majority of the schools are under the jurisdiction of the State Governments, Union government shifted its responsibility to states to take appropriate measures to reduce the weight of schools bags of the children studying in their schools.
Like Union government, some administrative efforts have also been made at the state levels for reducing the weight of school bags. In 2004, a writ petition was filed before the Kerala High Court regarding the huge bags that children are forced to carry at their tender age. Following the orders passed by the High Court, the State Human Rights Commission recommended the Education Department to take necessary steps to reduce the weight of school bags. In 2014, the Department of Education (DoE), Delhi government, issued guidelines for principals and parents ranging from teaching children "correct lifting and carrying techniques" to buying "child-friendly bags. In 2015, on the basis of recommendation by the Bombay High court, Maharashtra Education Department issued guidelines for reducing the weight of school bags and schools were given three months to implement the same. In recent past, Telangana government has defined the weight of the school bags for all schools including government aided and unaided schools. The policy specified the upper limits of the bags to 5 kg for class X students. On 30th May, 2018, Madras High Court has ordered state to implement “Children School Bag Policy” in the line of guidelines issued by either State of Telangana or State of Maharashtra.
Some innovative efforts are also being observed at district or school level to lighten the burden of school bags. For example, Chikkaballapura Zilla Panchayat in Bangaluru ordered all government schools in the district to observe ‘No Bag Day’ on two Saturdays. The Heritage School in Kolkata started providing children with lockers, to help them ease the school bag load. In place of text books, the La Martiniere School for girls in Kolkata started providing handouts to students of classes I to VIII for all subjects except mathematics and a second language. GM Upper Primary School in Kattampally, Kerala started an initiative of sending a special van to pick up the school bags from a designated point and brings them to school, free of charge. Unfortunately, the efforts are in silos. Most of the schools are either unaware of the consequences of heavy school bag or they simply do not care.
The saddest part in this whole saga is that tens of millions of children who carry the load of heavy bags every day and suffer health consequences, have no say in addressing this issue, they have no voice, no right to protest.
It is high time that Union Government shall direct the State and Union Territories to take a policy on “School bags” and issue guidelines in the lines of “The Children School Bags (Limitation on Weight) Bill, 2006. A law is need of the hour for schools to comply with the directives on reducing the weight of school bags.
[1] https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-in-school/imagine-average-weight-of-school-bag-is-8-kg/article6374181.ece
[2] A DSERT survey in association with the Centre for Child and the Law, National Law School of India University in Bangalore in 2015
[3] http://164.100.24.219/BillsTexts/RSBillTexts/AsIntroduced/LXXXVI_%202006.pdf
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of CBGA. You can reach Protiva Kundu at protiva@cbgaindia.org.