The whole world is watching this PIL as no court in the world has come out with a solution for reduction of school bag burden, said the affidavit.
Activist Swati Patil, who filed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking directions to the government for reducing weight of school bags, on Tuesday filed an affidavit in the high court stating that the decision of the state to put the onus of implementation on the principal or trustee of the school is ambiguous and misconceived.
The two-page affidavit also raises questions on who in the government would be held responsible for implementation of the various recommendations to reduce weights of the bags. "The whole world is watching this PIL as no court in the world has come out with a solution for reduction of school bag burden," said the affidavit.
Further, it also added that government is not clear whether it would be forming a committee to monitor the situation (implementation), what punishment/penalty would be imposed on the principals/trustees of schools for non-implementation of the government resolution of July.
A division bench of justices V M Kanade and Revati Mohite Dhere, on Tuesday, directed the government to file its reply to the affidavit, by December 17 and posted the matter on the date, for final disposal. Advocate Nitesh Nevshe, appearing for Patil, said: "The resolution places the onus of the implementation on schools and parents, but the state has not clarified the action it would take if it is not implemented by the schools or who in the government will be held accountable to oversee the implementation by November 30."
Earlier, the government had appointed a committee that found that the school bags were so heavy that 60 per cent of students below the age of 10 were suffering from orthopedic and stress-induced ailments.
The committee had recommended that one book per subject should be used for three months and the textbook weight can be reduced by using less weight paper and no hard cover. It also suggested use of e-classroom, audio-visual technology and other technological means for teaching.
The affidavit also seeks to know why only 10 recommendations of the state appointed committee are accepted when 44 were given, and whether rest of the recommendations would be accepted.
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