Education minister Vinod Tawde on Wednesday reiterated that the government was committed to reduce the weight of schoolbags. He also said that action would be taken against schools which compel students to buy costly books.
Shiv Sena MLA Prakash Abitkar had raised the issue of heavy school bags through a calling attention motion. Replying to it, Mr Tawde said, “We have taken a policy decision to reduce the weight of school bags and the education department has started efforts to ensure that weight of bags is not more than 10 per cent of the student’s weight. We will succeed in implementing it soon.”
Mr Tawde further informed the house that an expert committee was appointed to study the issue and the committee has submitted its report, which is being implemented. He also said that the said issue is more prevalent in CBSC and ICSE boards affiliated schools and not so much in the schools affiliated to the state board.
“In the survey conducted by the committee, it was found that apart from school books, students also carried water bottles, tuition books, sports gears, hand sanitizers, tiffin boxes and dance class books. Particularly in cases where both the parents are working, students were found to be carrying all the stuff they need in a day,” Mr Tawde said.
The state has declared that school principals and directors of educational institutes will be held responsible in case students are found to be carrying heavy bags. However, Mr Tawde said that he was not in favour of fixing responsibility on any one person.
“I was of the opinion that we could have worked out some system in consultation with principals and teachers. But the Bombay high court felt it was necessary to fix the responsibility and therefore we have decided to hold principals and directors responsible,” the minister said.
Shiv Sena MLA Jayprakash Mundada urged the government to provide drinking water facility in all schools. However, Mr Tawde said that while making provisions for drinking water, it was also necessary to change the mindset of parents. “When we travelled by trains many years ago, we would drink tap water at railway stations. But today we use bottled water even though tap water is as safe as it was. Parents also have the same mindset,” he said.
Explaining the steps being considered by the state, the minister said that the officials are trying to work out a timetable by which students would have to carry minimum books every day.
BJP MLA Mangalprabhat Lodha urged the government to stop the practice by some schools of forcing students to buy costly books and use them to collect donations. Mr Tawde assured that strict action would be taken against such schools.
