Weighed down by high expectations

While the government looks for ways to reduce the weight of school bags, problems persist

June 15, 2019 08:45 pm | Updated June 16, 2019 08:10 am IST

VIJAYAWADA

Officials at the helm of the Department of School Education are currently focused on designing a weight-loss formula for school bags. This is in addition to the re-adjustment of the syllabus pattern to make room for a ‘No School Bag Day’ on Saturdays, as desired by Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.

In his maiden review meeting with the Education Department officials after taking over as Chief Minister, Mr. Reddy said as part of reforms in the School Education wing, he wanted officials to work out ways to take the heavy burden of the school bag off the tender shoulders of primary kids. The idea is to de-clutter their minds and provide them ample scope for physical activities and mental agility.

The YSRCP, as promised at the time of the elections, is working on modalities to implement ‘Navaratnalu’, the nine large-scale welfare schemes that will benefit people of different sections.

Fee reimbursement and ‘Amma Vodi’, two of the major nine programmes, come under the purview of the education sector. Human Resources Minister Adimulapu Suresh said that a lot of ‘wrongs’ done during the TDP rule would have to be corrected. "Corporatisation of education in the garb of rationalisation has led to the closure of many schools," Mr. Suresh said, pointing to a ‘wide gap’ in the student-teacher ratio and an increase in the school dropout rate.

"The CM wants parents to enrol their children in government schools and for that to happen, we need to put things in perspective first," he said, expressing his willingness to take up the challenge. "We will show in the next two years a changed face of the education sector," he promised.

Implementation tricky

Implementation of any reforms in this sector involves 44,000 schools with a total strength of around 40 lakh children across the 13 districts of the State. "The number of children we will be covering is so high that it will take concerted efforts to take the scheme forward," said Adityanath Das, Special Chief Secretary, Department of School Education.

He said that earlier, a similar scheme by the name of ‘Street School Saturday’ was implemented on every fourth Saturday of the month when students would not carry books to school and they were engaged in sports and games and activities like storytelling, music and dance or were taken outdoors to a water body.

Such activities contribute to transformation through positive relationships. Students and teachers connect through a shared experience, he said.

To make teachers understand the concept, the department has roped in Tata Trust as its partner, to organise a series of workshops. "The objective is a complete overhaul of the education system in the next two years by which time, both infrastructure and the education quality will improve immensely," Mr. Das said.

School managements, meanwhile are tuning their minds for the ‘change’. "The scheme should be extended to secondary classes also," said U. Vijayalakshmi, principal of a Zilla Parishad Primary School here.

Most managements welcome the move provided they have adequate infrastructure. "If we get funds to build shelves to store books in the classroom, it will be good and the idea of engaging kids in recreational activities is exciting," says Chalasani Suresh, Principal of Nalanda Primary School.

Blamegame begins

The weight of the school bag has been a bone of contention between teachers and parents. Both blame each other for the child’s weight woes.

While stakeholders debate the many facets of the new policy, the Education Department awaits budget allocation to set the ball rolling for bringing innovation in classroom teaching. 

VISAKHAPATNAM

Overburdened shoulders

Satish, a Class VI student from Madhurawada, trudges up the stairs to his home carrying his school bag that weighs over 7 kg.

Apart from his bag, which is packed with textbooks and notebooks, he also carries a lunch box separately.

So tired is he from his short walk home from school that he throws his bag away as soon as he gets home and drops down on the floor. "I see him climbing up the stairs, tired from the heavy bag that he carries on his frail shoulders. Carrying such a heavy bag will severely affect his growth," his uncle N. Ram Babu said.

Satish is one of the many thousands of students across the State who face a taxing time every day, heaving bags which are way above the prescribed limit. Students of junior classes have it worse, as they are found to be carrying bags which in some cases exceed their own weight.

"Irrespective of the timetable, my daughter carries all the books to school. When I ask her, she says the teacher might suddenly ask about some book. Apart from the books, she also carries a lunch box, a snacks box and a water bottle," said P. Maheswara Rao, a resident of MVP Colony in Visakhapatnam.

What RTE says

Right To Education (RTE) activist Narava Prakash Rao said that according to the HRD Ministry guidelines issued in November 2018, school bags should not weigh more than 1.5 kg for students of Classes I and II, while for Classes III to IV it should be up to 3 kg. Bags should not weigh more than 4 kg for Classes V to VIII and 6 kg for Classes IX to X.

"There is a rule that private schools should not sell books and shoes on their premises. But it is not being followed. No official from the education department is looking into these issues," said a member of the Private Schools Teacher’s Union from Visakhapatnam, requesting anonymity.

All eyes on no-bag rule

Ever since the new Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy instructed the education department to implement a ‘no-bag day’ in schools on Saturday, parents are keen on seeing which corporate school blinks first in an age of cutthroat competition.

"We need to see how far the corporate schools will implement such rules. It won’t serve any purpose if they implement the rule only for a few weeks. It should be a regular process," said Mr. Narava Prakash Rao.

Lockers sought

Several parents opined that having lockers in schools would be a better idea than having a no-bag day for only one day of the week.

"Only high-end corporate schools will have the facility of lockers and not all. If the school has lockers, students would not have to lug their heavy bags to school every day," said M. Usha Sree, a parent.

Student unions opine that if the government’s goal is to reduce the weight of school bags, it should aim not just for a single day but for the whole week.

"Timetables should be a prepared in such a way that the student needs to bring only a few books for that particular day. Homework should also be minimised, so that children need not bring books back home again," said student leader Hemantha Kumar. 

TIRUPATI

Taking a load off their backs, literally

Students would be keenly awaiting the implementation of the No bag day rule in schools across the State — a decision that is expected to take a big load off their shoulders, quite literally.

Also awaited is the introduction of cultural activities in the classroom, such as music, dance, drawing, painting, acting, sports and games, which would give students a space to explore their creative interests.

"The ‘No bag day’ would provide an opportunity to students to sing, dance, recite poems, write essays, mono-act and debate on serious issues. Rather than forcing students to mug up textbooks, this would be an exercise that would give wings to their talent and unleash their creativity," said Y. Rama Mani, mother of a Class VI student studying at ZP High School, Renigunta.

Novel ideas

As a precursor to such an elaborate exercise, the education department ushered in the academic year with a novel ‘Rajanna Badi Bata’ scheme this Wednesday by creating a festive atmosphere through simple activities like cleaning up the school premises, tying garlands made of mango leaves at the classroom entrance, introducing newcomers to each other and felicitating the previous year’s toppers by prominently displaying their names on welcome hoardings and flex boards.

Students were also made to plant saplings on the school premises on Thursday, adopt and take care of a plant each and develop a kitchen garden on the campus to meet the requirements of midday meals. "Taking children closer to nature enhances their joy, sense of responsibility and commitment to Mother Earth," said B.T. Sreedevi, principal of Model School at Yerravaripalem.

Roadmap

Apart from reducing the weight of school bags, the government is also keen on improving school infrastructure so that children would feel motivated to go to school — a factor that would help curtail absenteeism and dropout rates. Kadapa District Educational Officer P. Sailaja said infrastructure improvement is being streamlined through the programme ‘Unna Sthithi nunchi Unnata Sthithiki’, whereby a school’s contemporary photos are uploaded on the website and the exercise carried out again after two years to facilitate comparison of the improvement during the said period. 

KURNOOL

Experts pin hopes on ‘No bag day’

Students, teachers, and educationalists alike have hailed the new ‘no bag day’ reform as a much-needed respite for students.

Experts say that stress levels among students would come down drastically if the rule is implemented properly. However, they warned that the rule could backfire in the absence of proper implementation.

"It is pertinent that the reform is implemented properly," said P. Maruti, district coordinator of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan. "If children who cannot sing are forced to sing or if children who cannot dance are forced to dance, stress levels would only increase," he said, referring to the cultural activities that the government is planning to introduce in schools on Saturdays.

"The students should be free to perform the activities that they want to, and the activities performed by the children must be fun and beneficial to them in the long run," Mr. Maruti said.

Mr. Maruti claimed that a large number of students had ended their lives in Andhra Pradesh last year due to growing stress. However, Mr. Maruti was quick to add that the cases were mostly from corporate schools, and said that private schools must implement the scheme for an overall decrease of stress among students.

Checking dropout rate

Headmaster of Municipal Corporation High School T. Venkata Reddy predicted that the dropout rate could be arrested due to implementation of the reform. "There is an air of negativity among students when it comes to going to school. If the scheme is implemented properly, children would actually want to go back to school, which would decrease dropout rates in the State," Mr. Venkata Reddy said.

He added that numerous parents are deciding to enrol their children at government-run institutions due to existing government schemes, and expect that the numbers would only increase with the implementation of the reform.

The move is not being hailed across the board, with several parents expressing concern over their children’s education. They are worried that their children’s studies would be affected due to the decrease in ‘study hours’. However, experts have rubbished these fears, stating that proper implementations of the reform would aid in bettering the grades.

Children elated

Meanwhile, the students are an elated lot and are eagerly looking forward to the No bag day. "It is going to be a unique experience to go to school without my bag. My friends and I are waiting to see when this rule would be implemented," a student of the Municipal Corporation High School said.

(Reports from P. Sujatha Varma, Tejaswi Marthi, A.D. Rangarajan, Harish Gilai and Tadi Vidura)

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.