PESHAWAR – The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly on Tuesday approved a unique bill to relieve school going children from carrying heavy schoolbags.
Under the K-P School Bags (Limitation Weight) Act 2020, which is the first of its kind in Pakistan, average weight of schoolbags for each grade has been setup.
For pre-Grade 1 students, the school bag weight limit will be 1.5 kilogrammes (kg) while 2.4 kg weight has been set up for Grade 1 students.
The maximum weight limit is 7kg, which is for students of Grade 12.
The legislation has been introduced “to eliminate the possibility of deformities and spinal abnormalities in schools students caused due to excessive weight of their School Bags,” said the bill.
Shahram Khan Tarakai, KP Minister for Elementary and Secondary Education tabled the bill.
I am glad to introduce Khyber Pakhtunkhwa School Bags (Limitation Weight) Act 2020 unanimously passed today by the KP Assembly. This bill is the first of its kind in Pakistan, and will be proven as a relief for the students in KP. Thankful to my KP assembly colleagues and my team pic.twitter.com/Sjj2daaW9E
— Shahram Khan Tarakai (@ShahramKTarakai) December 8, 2020
He in a tweet said, “I am glad to introduce Khyber Pakhtunkhwa School Bags (Limitation Weight) Act 2020 unanimously passed today by the KP Assembly. This bill is the first of its kind in Pakistan, and will be proven as a relief for the students in KP. Thankful to my KP assembly colleagues and my team”.
The bill said that action will be taken against principals of government institutions if law is violated.
Moreover, private educational institutions will be fined up to Rs200,000 for not complying with the law.
