The Assam government has issued guidelines for schools under its elementary and secondary education departments to reduce the weight of school bags of students. The guidelines will come into effect from the academic year 2018-19.
The guidelines said that the maximum total weight of the school bag should not exceed 1.5 kg for students of Class I-II, 2 to 3 kg for students of Class III to V, 4 kg for students of Class VI and VII, 4.5 kg for students of Class VIII and IX and 5 kg for students of Class X.
Earlier, the Union Human Resources Development Ministry had also issued guidelines on school bag weight.
The guidelines have also stated that home work shall not be assigned to students of Class I and II and the schools "should not prescribe any other subject except Language and Mathematics for Class I & II students and Language, Environmental Science and Mathematics for Class III to V students as prescribed by NCERT/SCERT."
Meanwhile, the State government has also constituted special district- and block-level squads to inspect the schools and prevent the use of non-prescribed books.
