Karnataka issues order to reduce students' bag weight; cuts 50% of textbook weight

Students will now be issued textbooks twice in the academic year, divided into two parts (Summative Assessment 1 and 2)

To lighten students’ school bags, after several discussions and appeals by educationists and parents, the Karnataka government passed an order to reduce the weight of school bags by cutting 50 per cent of the textbook weight. The order will apply to students from Class I to X for the academic year 2024-25. Students will now be issued textbooks twice in the academic year, divided into two parts (Summative Assessment 1 and 2), stated a report in The New Indian Express.

The Department of State Education Research and Training (DSERT) formed a committee in 2019 to look into the matter taking into account different stakeholders such as educationists, doctors, legal advisers, and paediatricians who had taken up an extensive study to come up with an optimum bag weight for students in different classes. With the department allowing two textbooks, students will have to use part 1 for the first half of the year and the second one for the latter half.

The committee in its report concluded that for students in Classes I and II, the ideal bag weight would be 1.5 kg to 2 kg. For Classes III to V students can carry 2 kg to 3 kg and for Classes VI to VIII, the permitted limit is 3 kg to 4 kg. For students in Classes IX and X, 4 kg to 5 kg was recommended. It also said that students’ bag load should be checked at schools and monitored at the district and block level in clusters to ensure that the approved government order is being followed. This move will ease the physical strain off children’s shoulders and not drain them, as stated in a report by The New Indian Express.

The meeting was held on October 6, 2023, and the report was submitted on October 12 by the committee, the government gave its order last week. The suggestions also stated that textbooks that additional reading material should be printed as separate books and should be kept in schools. “The literature can be used during classes and collected back at the end, keeping it in schools,” read the report.

With the government accepting these suggestions, the printing cost for two textbooks in a year will see a spike. In the current academic year, 2023-2024, the Karnataka Textbooks Society (KTBS) printed over 6,39,83,899 textbooks which included 566 titles. The cost incurred was Rs 3,23,31,93,175. With two textbooks a year, KTBS will print 636 titles along with 318 additional materials, increasing the cost of printing to Rs 8,45,72,950, according to the report.

Karnataka issues order to reduce students' bag weight; cuts 50% of textbook weight