Speaking to PTI on Sunday, Bihar Education Minister Mithlesh Tiwari said, “All private and government-aided schools in the state have to follow the NCERT School Bag Policy, 2020 and ensure that the weight of the school bag does not exceed 10 percent of the child’s body weight. The move is aimed at reducing the physical burden on students.”He said that the weight of school bags should be monitored regularly in schools and institutions should also prepare time tables in such a way that students do not need to carry unnecessary books or materials daily.The minister further said that health and overall development of students is central to the policy. “Therefore, it needs to be mandated that every school, irrespective of its management, should ensure the implementation of school bag policy for the betterment of our children. Health, physical education and arts education are areas that help in the all-round development of children. They need to be given proper space in the timetable,” he said.As per NCERT guidelines, schools should also make bag weight checking a routine practice with an active weighing machine on campus. “For classes 1-5, teachers should take responsibility for randomly checking the weight of school bags every three months on a selected day for the entire class. Information about heavy bags needs to be communicated to the child’s parents, and the bag needs to be monitored for a week or two to ensure that the child starts carrying a light bag,” the guidelines said.
