Two 12-year-olds hold press meet to protest against weight of school bags

The burden of school bags was so heavy for two 12-year-olds of Vidya Niketan School that they held a press conference to highlight their plight of carrying a load of 5-7 kg on their shoulders daily to attend classes. When India is surging ahead with a host of education programmes and better facilities for school-going children, here’s a nasty reality check.  

Media persons at the local Press Club were taken aback on Monday when the duo from local Vidya Niketan School, walked in and expressed their desire to hold a conference on the daily hardships they face due to the burdensome bags.

“We carry a minimum of 16 books for 8 subjects daily and sometimes their number increases to 18 or 20, depending upon the subjects for which the classes would be held for the day. “Our school bags weigh between 5 and 7 kg and its exhausting to carry them to our classroom located on the third floor,” the boys, aged around 12 years, told reporters here.

“We had given applications to our principal to consider reducing the weight of school bags a couple of times but the same failed to evoke any response,” they claimed.

In some cases, parents help their kids by carrying their bags to the classroom, they said.

As per the directives of Bombay High Court, the Maharashtra government had earlier this year issued a circular issuing guideline on reduction of weight of school bags carried by students on the recommendations of a committee.

The state had informed the High Court that it had also fixed the responsibility on principals and school management to follow the circular and would take action against those not obeying this rule.

According to government pleader, there are 1.06 lakh schools in the state and the circular is binding on them. To a query, whether the students were aware about the circular, they replied in negative.

The boys also offered some alternatives. They suggested that the authorities make arrangements for keeping their daily work books in school or reduce the number of periods per day. “There are 8 periods a day on average for which we have to carry textbooks for each subject along with their respective work books. In addition, few more books also need to be carried, on some of the week days, which prove to be cumbersome,” they said.