On Tuesday, the Telengana State Government issued a new set of guidelines the number of books each student should carry.
A Government Order was issued to reduce the load of books the children should carry every day. It read, “The heavy load is caused by the fact that the children bring textbooks, guides, homework notebooks, rough work notebooks etc., to the classroom every day. Therefore, clear guidelines of what to bring to school are required.”
A news reporter stated that, “Weight of the bag including textbooks, notebooks and the empty school bag, should not exceed 1.5 kg for class I and II students, must be below 3 kg for classes III to V, less than 4 kg for VI and VII classes, not more than 4.5 kgs for students of classes VIII and IX and a maximum of 5 kgs for class X students.”
The order further added, “While the load of a school bag weighs about 6 to 12 kgs at the primary level and 12 to 17 kgs at the high school level, it has an adverse physical effect on growing children. It can damage their vertebral column, knees and can also cause anxiety disorders.”
Sadly, the order is applicable only for state board schools that make use of textbooks that are prescribed by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT.)
Under the same Government Order, it states students from class 1 to 5 should not be given any homework. All the exercises required should be done in school hours under the teacher’s supervision.
The 1,307 word Government Order also reported that schools have to supply clean drinking water to avoid children from having to carry heavy bottles to school.
The Government Order also ordered students in higher classes should be allotted homework for one subject on a specific day.
