No Bag Day in all schools in Karnataka from next year

BENGALURU:  Here is some good news for schoolchildren across the state. The state Department of Public Instruction (DPI) has decided to mark ‘No Bag Day’ once a week in all schools from the next academic year. This means, students won’t have to trudge to school with heavy bags, at least for a day.  
This applies to all schools, including those affiliated to CBSE and ICSE. According to DPI officials, the idea is to encourage students to enjoy their journey to school. 

“After the winter session at Belagavi, we will issue an official order,” said a senior official.
However, the department is yet to fix which  ‘No Bag Day’ hasn’t been fixed. “The department wants every school to follow ‘No Bag day’ on the same day. So, we are still deciding the common day for all. There are suggestions to implement it on Wednesday because most ICSE and CBSE schools are off on Saturday. If it’s Wednesday, then students will have to carry bags only on the first and last two days of the week,” explained an official.

‘No Bag Day’ is already in practice in some private unaided and government schools in the state. The Government Higher Primary School at Neeralagi in Gadag district, for instance, has been following ‘No Bag Day’ on Saturdays for the past three years.Little Flower Public School, an ICSE school at Banashankari, Bengaluru, implemented the ‘No Bag Day’ on Wednesdays in 2012.

Dr B Gayethri Devi, principal of Little Flower Public School, said, “This is an experiment we began six years ago and it’s a big success. Not just students, even teachers are happy as they get to know how to teach without text books.”
Department officials said the move won’t come in the way of conducting classes. “Whether there will be normal classes or extra-curricular activities on that day is left to school authorities. We just want kids to be relieved from the weight on their shoulders, at least for a day,” said a DPI official. 

Committee report still pending!
A year ago, the state Department of Public Instruction (DPI) had constituted an expert committee to give recommendations on the reduction of school bag weight. The committee headed by academician Dr Niranjan-aradhya had submitted its report in May 2016 and one of the main recommendations was fixing the bag weight at one kg for Classes 1 and 2, two kg for Classes 3 and 4, four kg for Classes 5 to 7 and five kg for Classes 8 and above. But the report is still pending with DPI and no measure has been taken.