The education department has abolished the use of school bags for ‘pre-primary classes’ in the Valley.
Parents for the last many years have been demanding reduction in the weight of school bags, especially in private schools where children were forced to carry heavy school bags.
The director, education, Kashmir, on Friday night has issued guidelines to heads of the institutions asking them to set maximum weights for the school bags besides specifying which subject to be taught from which class as per the new National Educational Policy (NEP).
“The weight of the school bag for Classes 1 and 2 should not exceed 1.5 kg and the weight of school bags carried by students of Classes 3 and 4 should not exceed 3 kg,” the director of school education said in an order.
The order further said the weight of school bags for students of Classes 6 and 7 should not go beyond 6 kg.
“The weight should not exceed 5 kg for Classes 8 and 9 students and should not go beyond 5.5kg for Class 10 students. It is the duty of school heads to ensure that no homework is assigned to students of classes up to 2nd standard and no formal books are prescribed at pre-primary (nursery, LKG, UKG) levels,” the order said.
The order said for pre-primary classes, the students will be using two copies and workbooks that will remain in custody of school teachers. “Students of pre-primary level should not be asked to carry any bag except light carrier for lunch box and no schools should prescribe any other subjects except language and arithmetic for Class 1 and 2, language, environmental science (EVS) and arithmetic for Classes 3 to 5 besides language, social science, mathematics and science for Class 6 and 7, or as prescribed by the affiliating authority,” the order read.
{{/usCountry}}The order said for pre-primary classes, the students will be using two copies and workbooks that will remain in custody of school teachers. “Students of pre-primary level should not be asked to carry any bag except light carrier for lunch box and no schools should prescribe any other subjects except language and arithmetic for Class 1 and 2, language, environmental science (EVS) and arithmetic for Classes 3 to 5 besides language, social science, mathematics and science for Class 6 and 7, or as prescribed by the affiliating authority,” the order read.
{{/usCountry}}In 2020, then principal secretary, school education, Asgar Hassan Samoon had issued a notification with a list of directives to the schools. However, that wasn’t implemented.
“The government may cancel affiliation and recognition of the school violating the provisions, “ the notification said. The officials said this direction is the modification of previous order on which the department has been working.
While many parents have appreciated the directions but a lot of them have apprehensions whether private schools will honour this decision. “It’s an encouraging decision especially for the young children. I hope the decisions will be implemented with full dedication,” said Naser Ahmad Shiekh whose two children are studying in a private school.
Another parent, Fayaz Ahmad said the private schools especially big schools never adhere to the rules or directions of government. “Hope this time government is serious for the sake of young children,” he said.