Weight of school bags should not be more than 10 pc of the weight of the child : NCPCR
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, October 07 2016:
After considering the report of the study conducted by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India and parents of school children regarding the effects of heavy school bags on children, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD), Government of India, has recommended a set of guidelines to all schools affiliated to BOSEM and COHSEM for immediate compliance.
The guidelines are, State School Education Department should ensure that the weight of school bags is not more than 10 percent of the weight of the child; children in pre-primary classes should not carry any books/notebooks to school; appropriate short term awareness / training programmes should be conducted at three levels – for Principals, teachers and parents, to bring effective change, sensitization; schools should be directed to issue directions to all teachers to pre-inform students about the notebooks/books to be carried on a particular day and appropriate action should be taken against any school not following the guidelines.
The Manipur Commission for Protection of Child Rights MCPCR ), in a statement issued by its Chairman, has also directed the Commissioner of School Education, Manipur, to issue the necessary guidelines to all schools and submit a ‘action taken’ report to the Commission.
The Manipur Child Commission is also constituting a team comprising of its members, District Child Protection units and NGOs who will undertake inspections, surprise visits, for effective implementation of the above recommendations, it added.