Appropriate weight of School Bags

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has not recommended any textbook for early childhood education. It has recommended only two books (Language and Mathematics) for classes I & II and three books for classes III to V (Language, Environmental Studies and Mathematics). The number and size of NCERT’s textbooks used by the primary and secondary school students are appropriate to their age. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) had asked schools to ensure that students do not carry school bags till class II and also to restrict the number of books to be prescribed in classes I-VIII. CBSE has also issued a circular on 20.7.2015 to ensure that the parents are not forced to buy excessive number of textbooks. Education, being a subject in the Concurrent List of the Constitution, it is for the respective States/Union Territory Governments to prescribe norms with regard to appropriate weight of School Bags for their schools and take action against the schools violating these norms.

NCERT have made available all their textbooks for free access through the web (epathshala.nic.in) and mobile devices. The collections include textbooks for all classes in English, Hindi and Urdu versions and made available for free download and dissemination.