GUWAHATI, Dec 15 - The State government has issued guidelines for schools under its elementary and secondary education departments to reduce the weight of school bags of students from the academic year 2018-19. The government has also constituted special district- and block-level squads to inspect the schools and prevent the use of non-prescribed books.
The Union Human Resources Development Ministry had issued guidelines on school bag weight in compliance of a May 29, 2018 Madras High Court order.
The State government guidelines have stated that home work shall not be assigned to students of Class I and II and the schools �should not prescribe any other subject except Language and Mathematics for Class I & II students and Language, Environmental Science and Mathematics for Class III to V students as prescribed by NCERT/SCERT.�
It further said that the maximum total weight of the school bag should not exceed 1.5 kg for students of Class I-II, 2 to 3 kg for students of Class III to V, 4 kg for students of Class VI and VII, 4.5 kg for students of Class VIII and IX and 5 kg for students of Class X.