To provide respite to school students between Classes 6 and 8, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has proposed 10 ‘bagless days’ to be implemented by schools across States.
Key points
- The guidelines are in line with the requirements of the National Education Policy 2020.
- Teachers would have to plan activities for students to learn from local vocational experts, including carpenters, gardeners, potters, and artists.
- On an average, teachers and children spend around 6 hours a day, and over 1,000 hours a year, in school.
- Minimum 10 days or 60 hours of the school time should be allocated to the activities for this programme.
- The bagless days’ curriculum has been divided into three themes; 1. Exposure to aspects of ‘Science, Environment and Tech’; 2. Exposure to ‘Public Office, Local Industry and Business; and 3. Art, Culture and History.
- The guidelines said bagless days are important to provide exposure to the world outside the classroom with transactions that affect and contribute to day-to-day life; to build observation-based learning capacity and scope for practice; and to develop an understanding of the connectedness of community and interdependence.