Mumbai: Class 1, 2 students’ bags to get lighter soon

Parents worried about their six-year-olds stooping under the weight of a heavy school bag will soon be relieved, Puja Pednekar reports.

Parents worried about their six-year-olds stooping under the weight of a heavy school bag will soon be relieved.

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The state government has introduced lighter textbooks for Class 1 and Class 2 students from the new academic session beginning in June. The books will be available in bookstores in the next eight to ten days.

The slimmer and lighter textbooks have been redesigned on the lines of those used in elementary schools in countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom.

The number of pages in each textbook will be half of what the current ones have, with bigger pictures to get children interested in learning.

“Schools bags were getting heavier as students were required to carry many books every day owing to teachers not following a strict timetable. The new books are lighter and more vibrant,” Rajendra Darda, school education minister, told Hindustan Times.

Students would need to carry only three books for English, Math and Science, depending on the day’s timetable, he added. Subjects of English and Gra-mmar that were divided into two textbooks have now been combined.

Experts, however, feel that reducing the number of books is not the only solution.

“Lockers should be made mandatory in schools so that students do not have to carry their bags throughout the day,” said Arundhati Chavan, president of the Parents’ Teachers’ Association (PTA) United Forum.