School Bag Policy 2020: Bags' weight should be 10% of student's body weight

New Delhi, Dec 09: The weight of the school bag should be 10% of the body weight of the student carrying it, according to one of the suggestions of the School Bag Policy 2020 prepared by the Education Ministry.

It also recommended lockers in schools, discontinuing wheeled carrier or trolley school bags and digital weighing machines to check bags' weight among other suggestions.

Also, children upto Class 2 should not be given any homework as they are too young to sit for long hours.

The circular of the new National Education Policy (NEP) has been shared with all state governments on 24 November along with a circular asking for its implementation.

"It is requested to kindly adopt relevant suggestions of the School Bag Policy and NEP 2020 and ensure the implementation in your jurisdiction. The compliance report in this regard may be shared with this department (the ministry)," read the circular.

According to the new School Bag Policy 2020, the weight of a Class 1 and 2 student's bag should be 1.6 to 2.2 kg as the average body weight of a child in that age is 16-22 kg. Similarly, Class 11 and 12 students can carry a 3.5 to 5 kg bag as the average weight of children in that age is around 35 to 50 kg.

"In the beginning of the academic session, once the subject time table for a class is finalised, the Head of School needs to ensure a fair distribution of textbook weight per day for students of classes 1 to 12," the policy document stated.

The policy also talked in detail about homework for students at various levels, starting with no homework for children upto Class 2, and two hours of homework every day for children in classes 9 to 12.

"As children in classes 1 and 2 are too small to sit for long hours doing homework, they need not be given any kind of homework. Rather they need to be encouraged in the class to speak about how they spent their evening at home, games they played, foods they eat, etc.," the document suggested.