87 per cent of schoolbags’ weight okay: Government

The Maharashtra government on Wednesday stated in the high court that, as per its survey — which was conducted till June 2016, the weight of 87.45 per cent of students’ schoolbags was within the limit, as per government standards.

A division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice A.A. Sayed were hearing a public interest litigation filed by activist Swati Patil that claimed the weight of schoolbags was increasing, creating an adverse impact on the health of children.

The bench asked the government to inform it about the mechanism established to ensure that schools implement the circular on the weight of schoolbags, at the next hearing.

As per the HC’s directives, the state government issued a circular to schools based on the recommendation of a committee on the reduction of the weight of schoolbags.

The state government had informed the HC earlier that it had also fixed responsibility on principals and school managements to follow this, and would take action against those found in violation of this rule.

On Wednesday, the state government filed an affidavit in the court that states that till the end of June 2016, 2,436 officers of the state had visited 17,235 schools and weighed schoolbags. The officers found that 3,44,820 students’ bags were as per the standards. And 49,479 students’ schoolbags were heavy.

Ms Patil, however, claimed that state’s report is false, as only Kolhapur district has followed the procedure properly.

After perusing the report, the court expressed satisfaction on the state government’s efforts regarding implementation of the GR and asked the state to file a progress report up to September 30 and placed the matter for hearing on October 18.