Water breaks ok, but what about heavy bags, improved infrastructure?

Following the neighbouring States, the Goa Education Department has decided to enforce water breaks in schools to ensure that students are adequately hydrated. In a circular sent to all schools, the department has mandated that there shall be two compulsory water breaks of two minutes each, every day. The reason cited in the circular is that students in school do not drink sufficient water which results in dehydration which in turn may have long-lasting effects on their health. Accordingly, in every school, there shall be water breaks of two minutes each after the second period and sixth period.

All government, government-aided, unaided primary, middle, secondary, higher secondary and special schools will have to follow the water break rule with immediate effect. There are around 2,70,000 students enrolled in schools in Goa, from the primary to the higher secondary level, who will be covered under this circular. The concept of water breaks was introduced first in Kerala and later other south Indian states followed suit. While this is a good initiative by the Education Department, as far as the health of students is concerned, there are other changes that the State needs to introduce.

More importantly, the department has to look into complaints of parents wherein teachers have beaten up students. The department has done nothing in this regard. Besides assault, another complaint of parents is that the weight of primary and middle school students’ bags. Everyone would agree that of late the weight of the bags has increased manifold. Heavy school bags are a serious threat to the health and wellbeing of students. It has a severe, adverse physical effect on growing children, which can cause damage to their vertebral column and knees. It also causes anxiety in them. Moreover, in schools that function in multistoried buildings, children have to climb the steps with heavy school bags, which further aggravates the problem and health consequences.

This heavy load is caused by the children bringing textbooks, guides, home work notebooks, rough work notebooks etc, to the classroom daily. Therefore, clear guidelines of what to bring to school is required. According to a Delhi government circular, the weight of a school bag in the National Capital Territory is officially fixed. The circular asks schools to inform students in advance about the books and notebooks to be brought to the school on a particular day. The weight of school bag in Delhi is: Class I and II – 1.5 kg; Classes III to V – 2 to 3 kg; Classes VI to VII – 4 kg; Classes VIII to IX – 4.5 kg and Class X – 5 kg. The circular also asks schools not to assign any home work to Class I and II children.

Yes, water breaks were necessary, like the intervals for a quick snack, but simultaneously the government has to also look at enhancing facilities for students – better toilets, better classrooms being some of them. Instead of burdening students, the government must stop the cyberage scheme and invest that money in smart classroom wherein students will do home work and class work on e-books. Goa must take a cue from the Delhi schools, which have been modernised in the last few years. However, instead of improving school infrastructure the government wants to introduce other changes. The State government, in the last few years, has renovated schools, but school roofs still leak during the monsoon. Very recently, classes in Usgao had to be shifted after the school roof started to leak. The parents heaved a sigh of relief following the temporary shifting of the classes to a rented place as students were getting wet due to the rainwater seepage. The Education Department needs to look into genuine issues rather than just follow in the footsteps of neighbouring states.