Panel formed to suggest measures to reduce weight of school bag

Panel formed to suggest measures to reduce weight of school bag

SCHOOL Education and Sports Department of Maharashtra Government, on Tuesday, constituted acomrnittde under chairman ship of Dr rector of Education (Primary) to suggest measures for reducing the weight of school bags. The committee has been constituted in response to a public interest litigation (PH.) filed before Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court.

Director of Education (Primary) will head the committee and Deputy Director of Education (Primary) will be Member-Secretary, the members will include Deputy Director, Maharashtra State Council for Education Research and Trahung; expert in child psychology; representative of school managements, representative of school head masters, representative of parents, representative of those working in the field of education. The panel has been asked to hold meetings and submit the report within two months.

Tlit' Hitavada' had highlighted the study of Rajendra Dent, retired Associate Professor, which had pointed out that children were carrying school bags much heavier than the prescribed limit of 10 per cent of their body weight.

Dani's study had also highlighted that even after directives from Ministry of Human Resources and Childrens School Bag Act of 2006, not much improvement had taken place in this regard.

A considerable number of school children carrying heavy school bags were falling victims to medical conditions such as back pain, deformed skeletons, and even lung problems. fatigue forward bending of back making the process of breating harder, tingling numbness and weaknes in the hands Scoliosis (spine bent sideways), psychological disorder including loss of confidence and efficiency and depression, were other ill-effects of heavy school bag.

Posted in: News 2014