The State School Education Department is planning to turn, at the initial stage, all 161 model schools across the State into student-friendly, tech-driven institutions. To prevent the excessive load caused by heavy bags weighed down by tons of books, the government intends to set up lockers so that students can leave behind all heavy coursework and return home with only what they need. The department is reportedly planning to come up with improved infrastructural facilities in all government schools across the State by 2018-19.

 Apart from those in the model schools of the State, the department is also planning to come up with similar facilities in the over 2,000 municipal schools in the State. Part of a pilot project by the state government, it will all the model schools with digital classrooms, lockers, modern infrastructure.

The principal secretary of the Education Department, Adityanath Das said, "We all know that majority of the students are suffering (due to the weight of) heavy and bulky bags. As we can't stop children from doing homework or carrying books, we want to bring some furniture. We are coming up with full-fledged infrastructure in all government schools - from lockers to toilets, compound walls to shelves etc. We will spend Rs 1000 crores and soon these will be ready and students can keep their books in the lockers and take home only what they need. This would cut the burden of carrying heavy bags without affecting their academics. We will make sure that private schools too provide lockers to their students soon".

"We feel sad to see our children carrying a huge load of books on their backs and suffer from pain. Introducing locker facilities in schools is definitely a great idea," said N Poserao, a parent.