Srinagar, May 25: Kashmir School Education Department on Wednesday said that the weight of school bags for KG students from of classes I and II shall not have more than 1.6 KGs to 2.2 KGs, in accordance with the J&K School Bag Policy, 2020.
News Agency KNO quoted the Directorate of School Education Kashmir (DSEK) as saying that the weight of the school bags as per the policy should be 1.6 to 2.2 kg for students of Classes I and II, 1.7 to 2.5 kg for Classes Ill, IV and V.
According to an official communique, henceforth, only 2 to 3 kg for Classes VI and VII, 2.5 to 4 kg for Class VIII, 2.5 to 4.5 kg for Classes IX and X and 3.5 to 5 kg for Classes XI and XI1 shall be allowed for school bags.
“Heavy school bags are a serious threat to the health and well-being of students and have severe and adverse physical effects on growing children which can cause damage to their vertebral column and knees,” reads the communiqué issued by the department.
The communiqué states, “As such Heads of all Schools of Kashmir Division including both government and as well as private are directed to strictly adhere to the revised guidelines of School Bag Policy-2020 released by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to reduce the weight of school bags for students in primary, secondary and senior secondary schools.”
The department has advised the school teachers to inform the students in advance about the books and notebooks to be brought to school on a particular day. “They shall frequently check their bags to ensure that they are not carrying unnecessary material.”
“The teachers should take the responsibility of checking the weight of school bags of the students and any information about heavy bags should be communicated to the parents,” it reads.
The department also said that in order to reduce the weight of the school bag, it is the duty and the responsibility of the school management to provide quality potable water in sufficient quantity to all the students in the school so that they do not need to carry water bottles from their homes. —(KNO)
