Lok Sabha Question No. 220 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-07-17
Subject: School Bags Pick-up Facility
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: JOSE K. MANI

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION AND LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 220 TO BE ANSWERED ON 17 TH  JULY, 2017

## School Bags Pick-up Facility

## 220. SHRI JOSE K. MANI:

Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  is  aware  that  on  experimental  basis  an  upper  primary  school  in Kerala has launched pick-up facility for school bags, through deployment of special vans to pick up bags of students who cannot afford bus travel because of financial constraints and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether this move is seen as a measure to promote walking among students and reducing dependence on vehicles and if so, the details thereof; and
- (c) whether the Government would encourage introduction of this facility at all primary schools where  children  carry  heavy  bags  on  the  lines  of  Dabbawalas  in  Mumbai  carrying  lunchboxes and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SHRI UPENDRA KUSHWAHA)

(a) and (b) Yes,  Madam.  The State of Kerala has  informed  that  Government Mappila Upper Primary  School,  Kattampally  in  Kannur  district  of  Kerala  has  introduced  from  2 nd March,  2017 a programme named as Bag Vandi, to minimise the burden of students carrying school bag having more than 8 Kg.  This is a unique and replicable initiative taken by the school in association with its Head Master, Staff and Parent Teachers Association, by which an arrangement has been made to pick  the  school  bag  of  pupil  from  their  home  to  school.    By  this  pupil  can  walk  to  school  by themselves  without  any  burden  of  carrying  of  school  bags.    A  total  of  200  students  out  of  547 students of the school are availing this facility under this programme. No fees/charges have been collected from the students.

(c) There  is  no  such  proposal.    However,  the  National  Curriculum  Framework  (NCF)  2005 brought out by the National Council of Educational Research & Training (NCERT) addresses the issue  related  to  curriculum  load  keeping  in  view  of  the  Yash  Pal  Committee  Report,  1993  on `Learning Without Burden'. Besides taking measures to address the concern of weight of school bag  of  children  as  per  the  Yash  Pal  Committee  Report,  the  NCERT  has  taken  following  recent initiatives which contribute to the reduction of load of heavy bags and also information load:

- i. All  the  textbooks  and  many  other  teaching-leaning  materials  developed  by  the NCERT are available online on its website www.ncert.nic.in
- ii. Further for extending access of students, teachers and other stakeholders to variety of open ICT resources (teaching-learning) and henceforth improving quality of school education  at  all  levels,  the  NCERT  has  introduced  National  Repository  of  Open Educational Resources (NROER).
- iii. E-pathshala  has  been  launched  by  the  NCERT,  which  is  another platform  for showcasing  and  dissemination  of  all  digital  and  digitisable  resources.  The  eresources for students include e-books from classes I to XII,  e-contents, i.e. audio, video,  interactive  objects,  text  images,  maps,  question  banks,  e-courses  in  various subjects, scholarships, events, melas, competitions etc. Similarly the e-resources for teacher  and  teacher  educators  shall  include  source  books,  teacher  handbooks,  lab manuals, supplementary reading materials, e-courses/online courses, e-groups, blogs, etc.

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