The Karnataka government has taken steps to scientifically reduce the burden of school bags by cutting 50% of textbooks for students of classes 1 to 10 from the academic year 2024-25.
Instead of providing textbooks once for the entire year, it has decided to give two books per year, divided into two parts, (Summative Assessment) SA-1 and SA-2.
The State Government has issued an official order in this regard.
Why this order
In 2019, a committee comprising education experts, paediatricians, doctors, legal advisers and officials of the Department of State Education Research and Training (DSERT) conducted a study to reduce school bag burden.
They concluded that the weight of school bags for students of class 1 to 2 could be in the range of 1.5 to 2 kg. For classes 3 to 5, the proposed range was 2 to 3 kg, for class 6 to 8, the proposed range was 3 to 4 kg, and for class 9 and 10, the recommendation was 4 to 5 kg. However, this order was implemented only in government schools. Complaints about private schools not following this rule persist.
This issue was discussed in a meeting led by the Commissioner of the Department of School Education on October 6, 2023. A committee was formed under the chairmanship of Director, the Karnataka School Examination and Assessment Board. The committee recommended cutting 50% of the textbook size, and submitted its report to the government on October 12, 2023.
Since it is not textbooks that add to bag size, the committee also recommended checking the weight of a school bag of each child at the school level. Every school should ensure that only subject textbooks and notebooks are carried in the school bag. Necessary steps should be taken to have a rough notebook containing all the other matters.
Financial implication
In the academic year 2023-24, the Karnataka Textbooks Society (KTBS) has printed a total of 566 titles, and 6,39,83,899 textbooks in all at a cost of ₹323,31,93,175.
According to the recommendation, the textbooks for SA-1 and SA-2 will be printed separately. Therefore, KTBS expects to print 636 titles with 318 additional titles. Printing of these additional titles will cost around ₹8,45,72,950.
