Lok Sabha Question No. 1123 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-12-17
Subject: Weight of School Bags
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: SUSHIL KUMAR SINGH, RAKSHA NIKHIL KHADSE, RAJAN BABURAO  VICHARE, POONAMBEN HEMATBHAI MAADAM, BHARATENDRA SINGH, RATTAN LAL KATARIA, ASADUDDIN OWAISI, RAKESH SINGH, Tejpratap Singh,Yadav

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

## DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1123 TO BE ANSWERED ON 17 th  December, 2018

## Weight of School Bags

## 1123. SHRI SUSHIL KUMAR SINGH:

SHRIMATI RAKSHATAI KHADSE:

SHRI RAJAN VICHARE:

SHRIMATI POONAMBEN MAADAM:

KUNWAR BHARATENDRA:

SHRI RATTAN LAL KATARIA:

SHRI ASADUDDIN OWAISI:

SHRI RAKESH SINGH:

SHRI TEJ PRATAP SINGH YADAV:

Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT be pleased to

## state:

(a)  whether  the  Government  has  asked  all  the  States  to  restrict  the weight of school bags and issued guidelines especially for I and II class children regarding homework and subjects to be taught, if so, the details thereof and the response of the State Governments in this regard;

(b)  whether  it  is  a  fact  that  the  physical  and  mental  development  of young children is affected  by  carrying  heavy  school  bags  and  if  so,  the details thereof;

(c) whether any empirical study was made in the country before making the  said  decision,  if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  if  not,  the  reasons therefor;

(d) the reasons for which schools are not allowed to prescribe any other subject  except  language,  mathematics  and  Environmental  studies  for  II and III classes;

(e) whether the Government has any proposal to issue tablets for the use of children in lieu of books and if so, the details thereof; and

(f)  whether  it  is  also  a  fact  that  private  schools  are  not  following guidelines issued by the Union Government to States from time to time and  are  adding  more  weight  of  school  books  to  children  and  if  so,  the steps  taken/being  taken  by  the  Union  Government  in  consultation  with States  to  ensure  the  compliance  of  guidelines  in  letter  and  spirit  so issued ?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (DR. SATYA PAL SINGH)

(a): The  Hon'ble  High  Court  of  Judicature  at  Madras,  vide  order  dated 29/05/2018 in W.P. 25680 of 2017- M. Purushothaman Vs Union of India and others, has passed interalia the following directions to the Union of India: (i) Direct the State Governments and Union Territories forthwith not to  prescribe  any homework  for  class  I  &  II  students  in  the  State Board/Matriculation/Anglo Indian schools. (ii) Direct the state Governments and union territories forthwith, not to  prescribe  any  other  subjects  except  language  and  Mathematics  for Class I and II students and language, EVS and mathematics for Class III to V students as prescribed by NCERT. (iii) To disaffiliate schools prescribing homework and non-prescribed subject for Class I and II students and class III to V students. (iv)Direct the State Governments and Government of Union Territories  forthwith  to  formulate  'Children  School  Bag  Policy'  reducing the  weight  of  the  School  bags  in  the  line  of  guidelines  issued  by  either State of Telangana or State of Maharashtra. (v)  Direct  the  State  Governments  and  Government  of  Union Territories  forthwith  to  form special  squads  to  inspect  the  schools  and prevent the use of non-prescribed books.

In compliance of above directions, a communication was addressed to  all  States  and  UT's  vide  letter  no.  1-4/2018-IS-3  dated  05/10/2018. Further,  an  expert  group  has  been  constituted  to  formulate  a  policy  on children school bag.

(b) to (d): The National Curriculum Framework (NCF)-2005 brought out by NCERT addresses the issue related to curriculum load keeping in view the Yash Pal Committee Report (1993) titled 'Learning Without Burden'. NCF  states  that  'Heavy  School  Bags'  is  the  common  source  of  physical discomfort due to  heavy encyclopedic types of information loaded textbooks.  To  overcome  this  problem,  NCF  emphasizes  upon  shifting learning  away  from  rote  methods,  connecting  knowledge  to  life  outside school,  enriching  the  curriculum  to  provide  for  overall  development  of children  rather  than  remain  textbook  centric,  and  making  examination more flexible and integrated to classroom life.

The NCERT has taken following initiatives in this context:

(i)  New syllabi and textbook reflects the NCF 2005 perspective on curriculum load and are interactive and based on child centered pedagogy.  The  NCERT  textbooks  and  other  teaching  learning  materials are available online on its website www.ncert.nic.in. (ii) NCERT recommends only two books (language and mathematics) for Classes I and II and three books (language, EVS and mathematics) for Classes III to V. (iii)  NCF  2005  suggests  that  autonomy  should  be  given  to  the schools to develop their own flexible time table so that school can teach two or three subject each day giving students more time to do activities and develop deeper understanding of the concept. The NCERT addresses this issue incapacity building programme for teacher and school heads.

(e): As part of the digital initiatives of the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sanghathan (KVS), under 'Project e-Prajna' 5076 students in 25 Regions have been given Touch Tablets pre-loaded with e-Contents of Maths and Science Subjects. Teachers of these KVs are using tablets for classroom transaction. For extending access of students, teachers and other stakeholders to  variety  of  open  ICT  resources  (teaching-learning),  the  NCERT  has introduced National Repository of Open Educational Resources (NROER).

'e-pathshala' is another platform which contains e-resource for the students and teachers. The e-resources for students include e-books for all subjects from classes I to XII, e-contents (i.e. audio, video, interactive object, text images, maps), question banks, e-courses in various subjects etc. (f): Education comes under the Concurrent List of the Constitution and the States and UTs are the competent authority for implementation of the guidelines in the schools under their territorial control. Central Government reviews the implementation of the different guidelines issued from time to time with the States and UTs. CBSE has advised schools to ensure that no homework is given to students  till  Classes  I  and  II  vide  circular  dated  13 th August,  2018. Circulars  have  been  issued  by  the  board  specifying  the  number  of textbooks to be prescribed in Classes I- VIII as per NCERT curriculum to reduce the weight of school bags.

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