Kerala Unveils Lighter School Bags, No-Backbencher Classrooms

Students trudging to school burdened with a heavy backpack and the presence of 'backbenchers', often associated with children who don't engage in studies, were accepted scenarios in the education sector, but maybe not for long in Kerala. 

A draft report proposing a reduction in weight of school bags and creating classrooms without 'backbenchers' has been approved by the State Curriculum Steering Committee, General Education Minister V Sivankutty has said in a



statement.

According to him, the aim behind the proposals is to ensure the physical and mental happiness of children by reducing the weight of the bags they carry to school and to create a learning environment without 'backbenchers' as part of "democratisation" of classrooms. 

The minister further said that the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) was tasked to study these proposals in detail and the draft report prepared by it has been approved by the committee.