School Bag Policy 2020

The Directorate of Education has issued a circular asking schools to follow the new ‘School Bag Policy, 2020’ released by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).
It lays down the guidelines on homework and weight of school bags for classes I to XII.
School bags should not be more than 10% of the bodyweight of students across classes I to X and there should be no bags in pre-primary students.
It recommends no homework up to class II and a maximum of two hours per week for classes III to V, one hour a day for classes VI to VIII and two hours a day for classes IX and above.
The Policy will also require schools to introduce infrastructural changes as students will not be able to carry many books daily.
The schools need to provide lockers right from preschool to senior secondary to enable children to leave books in school and carry home only what is required.
It adds that the teachers should take the responsibility of checking the weight of school bags of the students every three months on a day selected for the whole class and any information about heavy bags should be communicated to the parents.
It adds that files and thin/light exercise books should be preferred to thick/heavy ones.

Blog