No Bag Days in school curriculum: Towards a 21st-century school

"If textbooks are treated as a vehicle for education, the living word of the teacher has very little value. A teacher who teaches from textbooks does not impart originality to his pupils. He himself becomes a slave of textbooks and has no opportunity or occasion to be original. It therefore seems that the fewer textbooks there are the better it is for the teacher and his pupils". (Gandhi, 1939)

The excessive importance given to textbooks in the educational policies which came in the 60s-80s had its own priorities. However, it took away the freedom from teachers and made her position subservient to the prescribed textbooks. In 1993, a committee chaired by the late Professor Yash Pal submitted its report to the then Ministry of Human Resource Development on lessening the burden of heavy school bags in the everyday routine of children. The famous 'Learning without Burden' report by The Yashpal Committee paved the way for many initiatives along the lines of child-centered education and experiential learning where the children and teacher's agency was put at the center of the pedagogy and not the textbooks.

In 2020, almost one-third of a century, the now Ministry of Education emphasized Bagless Days in the school curriculum in the National Education Policy 2020. The policy reaffirms that teachers can also plan their classes even without textbooks, teach from their experiences and children can learn by doing without being dependent on textbooks. This was emphasized extensively even in the NCF 2005 and the well-known Justice Verma report, 2012 on "Vision of Teacher Education in India: Quality and Regulatory Perspective".

Such a policy marks a departure from memorization and rote learning practices and emphasizes more on learning through doing. Herein, it becomes important to understand how school education can be transformed through such a policy in the 21st century.

1. Back to Basics

Mahatma Gandhi's Nai Talim (Basic Education) stated that knowledge and work is not different. Learning by doing was the main mantra. No Bag Day offers us this opportunity to transform education where education is rooted in the socio-economic and cultural milieu of the teachers and students. For this transformation to happen the ecosystem should be broad enough to include the parents, and community as equal partners in education like children, teachers, and the school community. In such a scenario, children hone a broad range of skills like communication, cooperation, creativity, critical thinking, and curiosity along with literacy and numeracy as sources of knowledge are not limited to prescriptive textbooks alone.

2. Learning by Doing

With the expanding spectrum of education, children learn the 'word' with the meaning it holds in its cultural milieu. For example, plowing the field is an experience and a skill through which the child learns words like field, cultivation, cows, goats, farming, etc. Skills like communication, curiosity, etc. are at the root of such meaning-making which comes through engaging with the surrounding milieu. Spaces like No Bag Day should be able to broaden the horizon of learning for children in this manner.

3. Building for future

The 21century is also expanding opportunities for children. Relating to the changing realities and developing an understanding and appreciation for change is equally important. If children learn by doing, they will develop an interest in the traditional skills prevalent as well as the skills which have the potential of becoming a vocation in the future. For instance, if we take the example of plowing as a skill, what technology will make it better and faster comes with it in the current context. If children learn to relate to society in a meaningful manner from the foundational stage, they will be able to build their future accordingly for themselves as well as for society.

4. Flexible and Diverse

For building their future, it is imperative that such spaces as bagless days in schools are made flexible and do not employ a size-fit approach. Diversity of knowledge and work is at the core of such a pedagogy and its appreciation will transform education from textbook focussed, didactic methods of teaching to learning by doing where knowledge and work/skills are not seen as separate. For example, Madhubani paintings can be appreciated as a skill in some cultures, and in others it may not. For children to learn, and expand their horizon of learning along with the essential skills of reading, writing, and mathematics diversity and flexibility is at its core. This is how children can be equipped with a breadth of skills through school education.

5. Parents and Teachers as equal collaborators

One of the pre-requisite for looking beyond textbooks is to look beyond school and make parents and teachers equal partners for the education of children. Skill-based education makes education part of the lived experiences of the children and teachers. In this regard, it is absolutely critical for reaching out to parents if we want to facilitate the growth and development of the whole child through school education. No bag days are beginning in this direction.

In other words, the No Bag Day policy in schools is not a plain physical absence of a bag but is about a pedagogy that is rooted in the holistic development of children. Education is not limited to the content prescribed in the textbooks but is learning the skills for lifelong learning where knowledge and work is not 'separate' but a way to learn skills and develop capacities to improve the lives of children and the community in a collaborative manner.

About- Author Aparajita Sharma is from Bal Raksha Bharat.