West Bengal government taking steps to reduce school bag load for primary school students: Partha Chatterjee

The Syllabus Committee will look into this matter and take an appropriate decision without compromising on the quality of the text books.

WB schools: In a bid to unburden primary school students, West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee has asked the Syllabus Committee to reduce the weight of school bags. The decision was taken after at a recent meeting, a primary school teachers’s organisation demanded that the weight of school bags of primary school students be reduced. The teachers’ organisation had pointed out that a text book ‘Amar Boi’ compiled three subjects Bengali, English and Mathematics in a single volume, weighing around 1 kilogramme and asked the government to split it into three separate books – subject-wise.

Chatterjee said,”I have asked the Syllabus committee to consider options to reduce the weight of text books.
On being asked how this could be accomplished,  he said, “There are many ways. We have to ensure the total weight of pages in a single text book does not exceed the carrying capacity of a child. We have to see if the number of pictures in a particular book is more than required”.

“The Syllabus Committee will look into these things and take an appropriate decision without compromising on the
quality of the text books,” the minister said. Syllabus Committee chairman Abhik Majumder said, “The minister has taken up the issue of reducing weight of primary school text books with the committee. We are discussing the matter among ourselves and weighing options.”