The central government of India has proposed that schools should have "bag-free days" as part of the New Education Policy (NEP) for students in grades VI to VIII. The government of Gujarat, led by Bhupendra Patel, has approved the implementation of 10 "bag-less days" in the upcoming academic year. However, some education experts in Gujarat have expressed concerns about the feasibility of this scheme due to the limited funding allocated by the state government, which is only 0.225 paisa per student.
Dr Kuber Dindor, the Minister for Primary, Secondary, and Adult Education of Gujarat, shared information about the concept of "bag-less days" on social media. As part of the New Education Policy (NEP), students in Gujarat will be required to participate in activities such as gardening, carpentry, pottery, and metal fabrication for a minimum of 10 days or 60 hours each year during these "bag-less days." The policy also suggests that students should be taken on educational tours to museums and heritage sites on these days, stated a report by The New Indian Express.
According to Technical Education Minister Rushikesh Patel, who is also a spokesperson for the state government, "bag-less days" can be used for activities such as sports events, national festival celebrations, educational trips, meetings with local artisans and folk artists, and workshops on subjects such as horticulture, pottery, and metal fabrication. Patel announced that the implementation of 10 "bag-less days" will be piloted in January 2023 in 491 upper primary schools in the state, with an additional 1,009 upper primary schools participating in the second phase.
It will be implemented by the end of January 2023. For which the minister said that a financial provision of two crores has been made, per school - a total of Rs. 15,000/- will be given. Ahmedabad's Barajea Government School Teacher and Gujarat Prathimik Sikshak Sangh Prachar Mantri, Narendra Gohil said, "The policy has been prepared in a hurry. For which there is not enough budget has been allocated. Generally, government school has three sections for class VI to VIII, some places have two sections. If we consider two sections per standard and an average of 50 students per class, then there are three hundred students in each school out of which 300 students are to be included and trained under the new education policy. But the budget proposes to allocate only 2 crores," as reported by The New Indian Express.
Narendra Gohil explained the calculation as follows: "491 Schools in the first phase and 1009 in the second phase, a total of 1500 schools have been covered under the NEP 'Bag-less days' scheme. In this way, 1500 schools x 300 students per school x 10 Days (÷) 2,00,00,000 = 0.225 paisa is spent per student per day, and the government allocated 0.225 paise. This is when the entire budget is spent. Excluding publicity and administrative expenses, stationery expenses." Former District Education Officer Kusumanssu Pota commented, "If we assume that more children are studying in city government schools and fewer in villages, even if we count a total of 60 children per school, then 1500 schools have 90,000 children. Even on this account, only 0.45 paisa per day can be allotted to the children, in this budget what kind of training they will get?" as reported by The New Indian Express.
Govind Modhera, the former principal of Surat District Panchayat Primary School, said, "The budget allotted to government schools in Gujarat Under NEP is a joke". He explains that under the NEP 'Bag-less days' scheme, if schools want to bring in an expert for a programme, it usually costs 3,000 to 4,000 rupees. For example, if a school hires a carpenter to teach children under the new policy, a good carpenter earns two to three thousand rupees outside. So how much will he charge the school to teach, and who will pay for his travel expenses, he questioned.
Modhera told The New Indian Express that the government's policy of taking students on tours of museums and heritage sites is not feasible due to the limited budget allocated. He added that this is not the first time that the government has made a joke of the education system in Gujarat, citing the allocation of only 150 rupees for government school children's uniforms and 500 rupees for "Shala Pravesh Utsav" (school entrance festivals) as examples.
