2006 Bill in Rajya Sabha still pending or shelved?
by K. Vijaya Kumar, Former Jt. Director of Information & Publicity
The school bag debate has come to a forefront due to Mysore’s NGO ‘Pratham’ and A.J. Stationery of Ashvini Ranjan taking up a study covering about 3,000 students which has revealed that weight of their school bags varies from 8 kg to 4.5 kg. Hence, it is reported, that child right activists want to move High Court to bring a law to reduce the weight (10% of the total weight of the student). But, before this they met recently Education Minister Kimmane Ratnakar in Mysore who has assured them that a Pilot study/scheme will be undertaken in CM’s Varuna Assembly Constituency and State Government will take appropriate action in this regard and to wait for the outcome.
RKN and School Bag
This takes my memory back when our R.K. Narayan (RKN), the famous writer, was nominated to Rajya Sabha in 1986, nearly 30 years ago, who in his debut (and ONLY) speech raising weighty school bag issue made a fervent plea for reducing the inevitable “daily burden” of children. He observed their school bags weighing over five kg made many children “hang their arms forward like Chimpanzees and like a pack-mule.” He even went to the extent of pleading “abolition of school bag” as a National Policy by an ordinance if necessary.
When I met RKN once in Mysore after this Session, he told me that he will be happy to see the day when children walking straight without burden on their back and be satisfied for being in Rajya Sabha.
“Wisdom to be the end of learning”
Expressing his distress over the Education System that did not leave the children “any room to play or dream,” (The same he had expressed in his very early book Swami and Friends) his was a passionate criticism of the system wherein weighty school bags bends children back rather than exciting their creative minds of imagination. His longer vision on Education was “Wisdom to be the end of learning.”
Learning without burden
This only issue raised by RKN during his six years tenure in Rajya Sabha (1986-1992) led to a National Debate leading newspapers of the country highlighting his plea in the RS. Public opinion and parents’ awareness resulted in the formation of a Committee by the Central Govt. headed by a known Educationalist Prof. Yashpal, to recommend changes in the School Education System. The report of the Committee ‘Learning without Burden’ stated that young children should not be compelled to carry heavy bags to schools.
It is unfortunate that a Bill known as Children School Bags (Limitation on Weight) Bill 2006, introduced in Rajya Sabha was later shelved. If RKN were to be alive (he died in May 2001) he would have really felt sad to know the fate of this Bill.
Thanks to Pratham and A.J. Stationery
The recent study undertaken by Pratham and A.J. Stationery of Mysore not only has brought the issue to forefront again but also gives some solace to the soul of RKN. It is heartening to note that People’s Legal Forum has taken up this cause with experts favouring a legislation on the lines of the Bill in Rajya Sabha. Former VC of Kuvempu University Prof. P. Venkataramaiah is also associated in this endeavour. Viren Ranjan (son of Ashvini Ranjan) of A.J. Stationery who was part of the study has pointed out that Pratham Mysore had Indianised the ‘Loose Leaf Concept’ practiced world wide. Under this concept, students only need to take loose sheets to school and bring it home and file them.
What a great relief, if introduced, will it be to students and their mothers particularly who carry bags of their children (in the Apartments) till the Bus point ! Myself a daily witness to this plight.
[SOM had published an editorial titled ‘Burden off the back’ in its issue on Sept. 11, 2014]
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source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / Thursday , September 25th, 2014