It has become a common sight now for school students carrying huge bags on their shoulders in Tamil Nadu.
Point is that this issue has again come to light again especially with respect to the private school students. The private schools in TN are not following the tri-semester pattern. It is known that both the Union as well as the TN state government has issued many notifications on this issue of the school students. The Tri-semester system would reduce the burden of heavy loads on the shoulders of the school students.
The shocking piece of information is that even some government schools in the state have been making the students carry huge weight. It must be taken into account that many private schools have been trying to reduce the school students` burden of carrying heavy loads by allowing them to keep their books in the schools themselves. The issue in this is without the notebooks the students were unable to revise their classroom work in their homes.
Carrying lunch boxes, water bottles plus books and notebooks etc on the shoulders has led to back pain in many school students. This was mentioned by some parents. The long travel from their homes to the schools with huge loads on their back in the buses or autos or share autos etc have only increased the problems for the school students.
As per School Bag Policy 2020 that was launched by the MHRD and by the department of school education, the weight of the school bags for the school students of classes 1 and 2 must not exceed 1.5 kg. Only a maximum weight of the bags of 2kg to 3kg is allowed for the students studying in the classes 3 to 5. For the students of class 6 and 7 only 4kg is allowed and for the students of classes 8 and 9 only 4.5kg is allowed. The students of class 10 can carry a load of 5kg.
Apart from their prescribed textbooks, the students must not be forced to bring additional books etc and this has been instructed by the school education dept. It is learnt that the management of all the schools must make sure that the students carry the textbooks as per the time table. On a regular basis, the weight of the school bags must be monitored and checked and this was also mentioned in the policy 2020. It is essential that every school must keep a digital weighing machine in their schools.
In the beginning of every academic session, an awareness programme must be held for parents and the students. The teachers were of the view that it was practically impossible to weigh each bag despite the TN govt issuing circular to the schools regarding following the rules strictly.
It was mentioned by the general secretary of TN Private, Nursery, Primary, Matriculation, Higher secondary and CBSE Schools Associations Mr. KR. Nandhakumar that the members have been strictly asked to follow the rules.He was unhappy regarding many private schools not following the rule.
