New panel to look into findings of study on schoolbag weight

Four months after a sample survey report on reducing the weight of schoolbags in state schools was submitted, the government has set up another committee to look into the findings.

The report was prepared by a committee set up by the Department of State Educational Research and Training (DSERT) and the Centre for Child and the Law, National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru. It comprised experts, representatives from NGOs and officials of the department. The survey was conducted in 24 city schools across different boards.

Bella Shetty, Director, DSERT, said some recommendations in the report were considered unviable. “We received instructions from the office of the Commissioner of Public Instruction (CPI) on Monday to form a new committee to have a re-look at the report,” he said, adding that the panel has been asked to take a “broader” context. “It was, in any case, a consultative report and the committee will be constituted soon,” Shetty said, defending the formation of a new committee. 

Dr V P Niranjan Aradhya, fellow at the Centre for Child and the Law, NLSIU, who assisted the survey, said that the new committee was uncalled for. “The survey was carried out in a very transparent and empirical manner with purposeful sampling. Based on the report, the government should have immediately issued a circular limiting the schoolbag weight at the beginning of the academic year itself.”

Aradhya said the survey reflected the reality. Some of the findings of the survey were - students who studied in aided state board schools had the heaviest bags at 5.6 kg. The bag of Class 10 Kendriya Vidyalaya students could even weigh as much as 8 kg.