Maha surveys bag weight at 48 schools

The state education department has conducted a survey of 48 schools in the state to check the weight of school bags after the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) instructed states to do so in a recent circular.

Over the last two days, officials from the state department surveyed the schools on a random basis for bag weight.

In the city, only two schools, including one private and one Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) school, were surveyed.

“As per the instructions of the Central government, officials from each district should survey schools under their jurisdiction. A questionnaire is made available online which needs to be administered to school principals, parents and students. A report on the same needs to be submitted after survey,” states a circular issued by the Directorate of Primary Education.

However, the policy has seen poor implementation since its introduction as per activists.

Activist Swati Patil, whose petition had prompted the government to come up with such a policy, said, “The state government has not done enough to check its implementation. Representational samples in a few schools do not reveal the reality.”

Recently, MHRD had asked all the states to ensure that they have a policy to reduce the weight of school bags. It has now sought data from 300 schools across the country.

Officials from the state education department said that district wise data is being uploaded on the portal allotted by NCERT.

MUMBAI: