Bagless Days: Relief for students from the burden of bags! Education Ministry's guideline for coming to school without bags

In the Union Budget 2024-24, the government has included employment and skill training in its priorities and the Union Education Ministry is also working towards providing skill training to students right from school life. During Bagless Days also, students will be introduced to experts from various fields including artists, sportspersons, animation, graphic designers, fashion designers and will also be guided till they are in school.

Students will visit the village fair and Panchayat office:

NCERT Director Prof. Dinesh Prasad Saklani has written in the beginning of these guidelines that this is a historic step to reduce the burden of school bags on students and its objective is that students feel happy going to school and do not feel any kind of pressure. Many activities have been given for schools in the guidelines, from which they can choose according to their convenience.

Students studying in cities will get a chance to visit fairs held in villages and visit Panchayat offices. Students will be able to see the Panchayat office in reality, just like the functioning of the Panchayat is shown in TV serials like Panchayat.

These ten days will be completely converted into fun and enjoyment. Students can be taken on field visits to many places including post office, bank, national park, educational tour, field visit, women police station, government office, university-college.

There will be no marks or grading for the activities that students will participate in during these ten days. It will be the responsibility of the teachers to keep telling the students how to complete the activities.

Meeting the experts:

The National Curriculum Framework (NCF) issued for school education makes it clear that classroom teaching is not just the world of books, but students should also be introduced to experts from various fields. According to the guidelines, in these ten days, students should be made aware of the local ecology, taught to check the purity of water, identify local flora and fauna and visit local monuments. Participate in musical and cultural activities.

Value and peace education should be taught. Information should be given about the importance of national festivals. From the point of view of environmental protection, they should be taken on a tour of solar energy parks and biogas plants. Along with this, cyber security should also be made important. The education policy states that it will be mandatory for all students of classes 6-8 to go to school without bags for ten days. During this time, students will do internships with local skill experts and participate in activities other than the traditional school system.

Various activities like art, quiz, sports and skill-based learning will be included during the Bagless Days. These include visits to historical, cultural and tourist places, interaction with local artists and craftsmen and visits to various educational institutions in your village, tehsil, district or state as per the local skill requirements.

NBT Lens- The burden of school bags is becoming a big problem:

In today's time, the burden of school bags on children starts increasing from the second and third classes. In the sixth to eighth classes, the burden of school bags is so much that sometimes the child is not even able to lift his school bag properly.

The government has issued guidelines from time to time to reduce the burden of school bags, but these are not strictly followed in schools. If you look at any private school, school bags are very heavy. The idea of ​​staying without school bags for ten days is good, but at the same time the burden of school bags should be less on other days as well.