Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala State Human Rights Commission has issued an order to the DPI asking it to publish the textbooks in three parts for reducing their weight.
The commission also said that the students should be asked to bring books with lesser weight. The books should be kept in the libraries after the academic year for use in the next year.
In 2005, the commission had asked the schools to reduce the weight of school bags. It had also appointed a panel headed by Abraham K. Paul and Sachidananda Kamath, paediatricians, to study the impact of heavy bags on children.
The panel had opined that undue emphasis on reading and writing was detrimental to the mental development of pre-school children. The panel pointed out that the pre-school children need not carry textbooks and that the weight of their bags, including notebooks and water bottle, should be less than a kg.
