About 70 students in two sections of class 8 in Demonstration School of Regional Institute of Education, Mysuru (RIEM), need not carry books to school this year.
As part of a National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) project, the school has decided to relieve them from bringing both textbooks and notebooks this year as an experiment.
School head Kalpana Venugopal told The Hindu that the students will instead carry loose sheets to school to take down the notes, which they will take back home and file. “In school, they can use the textbooks available in the library,” she said, adding that the students of class 9, who had just passed class 8, will be donating their books to the school library.
The students will be asked to bring the file of just one subject to school every day of the week to be reviewed by the subject teacher.
Dr. Venugopal said the experiment taken up by NCERT will not only reduce the weight of the school bag, but also encourage students to become adept at handling files.
The NCERT experiment has been taken up on a cue from the loose-sheet concept implemented in two schools in Mysuru – the government school in Medar Block, Bamboo Bazaar, and Mysore West Lions Sevaniketan School in Gokulam.
“We decided on this after a brainstorming session with the People’s Legal Forum, Mysuru, which has embarked upon a campaign to reduce the weight of children’s schools bags,” she added.
