Saturday to be “No School Bag Day”

Pothashang News Service: Imphal, September 4, 2019: Manipur government has decided to declare every working Saturday as “No School Bag Day” considering the long term physical and mental effects of carrying heavy School Bags every day by the young students.

The “No School Bag Day” shall be enforced in all categories of schools including the government, government aided and unaided/private schools for students studying in Classes I to VIII. On all working Saturdays, the students shall not carry any school bag and schools shall ensure taking life skill activities including extra co-curricular activities, games and sports, recreational activities, etc and make schools a more joyful place of learning, said a notification by the education (S) department .

It said carrying heavy school bags creats lots of inconveniences, health problems and discomfort to them.

The government has realised that the students in these categories of classes are found to be always engaged with the routine works related to school curriculum/syllabi,additional home work assignments thereby finding hard to find any quality time for life skill activities including games and sports, extra co-curricular activities, etc which can help in their holistic personality development and growth, it added.

The education (S) department is of the considered view that the focus as on date will be more on the areas for providing a holistic development of the students by making schools a joyful place for learning and considering the circumstances and with an objective to reduce the excessive stress created amongst the students on the one hand and also to make schools a more conducive and joyful place, the government have decided to declare every working Saturday as “No School Bag Day”.

“This is a good step, thanks to the government,” a mother of a class V student told Pothashang. “It would be welcoming if the government takes up measure to minimise the everyday burden of carrying heavy school bags,” she added.