Odisha government to reduce weight of school bags in state

Odisha government has instructed the Collectors across the districts to ensure the implementation of guidelines notified by government for all private schools to reduce the weight of students' school bags.

As per state government guidelines, private schools will now have to set the accurate weight of students' school bags, according to the guidelines.

"Government has instructed the collectors to ensure the implementation of strict government orders for reducing the weight of students' school bags. A deadline has also been stated in the government's format. The format states, the weight of bag a student should carry to school," said Samir Ranjan Das, School and Mass Education Minister, Government of Odisha.

"The collectors across districts have been instructed to follow the guidelines and we are simultaneously enquiring the implementation of these guidelines. Private institutions are gradually working on this," he added.

Acting on government's instructions, some private schools have already implemented the guidelines and the state government is ensuring to force the remaining schools to follow the guidelines and implement it at the soonest.

The government has instructed the district collectors and they have further formed a committee to enquire the school authorities. These committees are visiting various private schools and institutions in the morning and afternoon when the students enter and leave the school, respectively.

On being asked about the implementation of these guidelines in government-run school, said, "Government schools are already following these guidelines."

While speaking to ANI, a school student said: "Our teachers have instructed us to bring only one thick notebook and one rough notebook from now on and we have to carry necessary subject books. We used to carry every book and notebook as per our time table, till now and our bags used to weigh a lot."

"Government has taken a good step. They have prescribed to carry 1.5 kilograms of the bag for first standard students but right now students carry around four to five kilograms of the bag. And even after these guidelines will be implemented, students can't skip bringing things like lunch box and water bottle," said Rakesh, student's father.

"Government has deployed different teams for enquiring the authorities in various schools but I doubt if the government has enough manpower to keep a check in every school. I doubt if they will be able to implement these guidelines in schools," he added.