Acting on proposals submitted by the Commissioner and Director of School Education, the Telangana School Education Department on Tuesday issued strict guidelines to reduce the weight of school bags for children in the State. Schools including aided and un-aided private schools have to follow guidelines, according to the GO.
Terming the weight of the school bags as a serious threat to the health and well being of the students in primary, upper primary and high schools, the guidelines limit the number of books and notebooks students bring to the classroom. It shifts the onus on school officials to supervise the implementation of the steps .
The 1,307-word guidelines in the GO go into the detail for reducing the weight of the school bags including supply of pure drinking water in schools to prevent children from lugging heavy water bottles. The order also bans homework for children in primary classes. For higher classes, the guidelines suggest allocation of particular days for homework of specific subject. Using the guidelines as benchmark, the government has specified an upper limit to weight of school bags for children. The policy was formulated after a survey on the school bag load in some districts.
