Circular on school bags applies to all institutes: Maha govt tells HC

Maharashtra government on Thursday told the Bombay high court that its circular, prescribing limits for weight of school bags carried by students, applied to all schools in the state.

The schools included those affiliated to ICSE, CBSE, HSC and SSC boards, government pleader told a bench of Justices Abhay Oka and Prakash Naik.

The court was hearing a PIL filed by social activist Swati Patil on the “rising” weight of school bags and its “adverse impact” on the health of children.

The bench asked the government to inform on the next occasion what mechanism it has put in place to ensure that the circular on weight of school bags is implemented by the school managements.

The hearing on the PIL was deferred to April 28.

As per the directives of the HC, the state has already issued a circular to the schools on the recommendations of a committee on the reduction of weight of the school bags to be carried by students to the schools.

The state had informed the HC earlier that it had also fixed the responsibility on principals and school managements to follow this and would take action against those not obeying this rule.