Mumbai: School textbooks for classes 2 to 8 will not have blank pages after each chapter, to write notes on. The state’s school education department has decided to discontinue the practice after a review.
The move had been criticised by a section of stakeholders. The decision to have textbooks with pages for notes was started for academic year 2023-24, and it was continued for 2024-25.
Maharashtra State Bureau of Textbook Production and Curriculum introduced blank pages for notes in textbooks to not only reduce weight of school bags and its adverse impact on students’ health but also to ensure that children of poor farmers from rural regions have sufficient writing material.
However, a review has shown that the blank pages in textbooks were not used by students as intended to make notes on topics taught in class, states a govt resolution released on Tuesday. It also, mentions that the aim to reduce weight of school bags was proving counterproductive as students were carrying textbooks and separate notebooks to write on. Mentioning that the intended objective of the scheme was not significantly achieved, the department has decided to discontinue the practice.
The govt circular states that from academic year, 2025-26, textbooks be made available as before, without blank pages for notes. The scheme was experimental and subject to periodic review.
TOI had earlier reported the findings of an online survey conducted by the state’s textbook bureau with 14,000 parents in Dec 2023, where 71% of respondents had mentioned that the integrated textbooks had not helped in reducing the weight of school bags, and 81% had even claimed that they continued to send notebooks along with the textbooks with pages for notes, adding to the weight.
Educationists have welcomed the govt’s latest move and said that the govt should not have experimented with it in the first place, and that many forums were opposed to it right from the beginning. Some educationists even said that such moves should have been taken after conducting a proper study.
Mumbai: School textbooks for classes 2 to 8 will not have blank pages to write notes after each chapter. The state’s school education department has decided to discontinue the practice after a review.
The move had been criticised by a section of stakeholders. The decision to have textbooks with pages for notes was started for academic year 2023-24, and it was continued for 2024-25.
Maharashtra State Bureau of Textbook Production and Curriculum introduced blank pages for notes in textbooks to not only reduce weight of school bags and its adverse impact on students’ health but also to ensure that children of poor farmers from rural regions have sufficient writing material.
However, a review has shown that the blank pages in textbooks were not used by students as intended to make notes on topics taught in class, states a govt resolution released on Tuesday. It also, mentions that the aim to reduce weight of school bags was proving counterproductive as students were carrying textbooks and separate notebooks to write on. Mentioning that the intended objective of the scheme was not significantly achieved, the department has decided to discontinue the practice.
The govt circular states that from academic year, 2025-26, textbooks be made available as before, without blank pages for notes. The scheme was experimental and subject to periodic review.
TOI had earlier reported the findings of an online survey conducted by the state’s textbook bureau with 14,000 parents in Dec 2023, where 71% of respondents had mentioned that the integrated textbooks had not helped in reducing the weight of school bags, and 81% had even claimed that they continued to send notebooks along with the textbooks with pages for notes, adding to the weight.
Educationists have welcomed the govt’s latest move and said that the govt should not have experimented with it in the first place, and that many forums were opposed to it right from the beginning. Some educationists even said that such moves should have been taken after conducting a proper study.
