Education ministry reviews NCERT guidelines for bagless days in schools

The Ministry of Education reviewed the NCERT guidelines for implementing bagless days in schools on Tuesday, with plans to further refine these guidelines to make learning more joyful and experiential for students, officials said.

The PSS Central Institute of Vocational Education (PSSCIVE), a unit of the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT), has developed comprehensive guidelines to implement bagless days. The initiative aims to create a joyful, experiential, and stress-free learning environment for students.

Various suggestions were discussed during the meeting, including educating students about the local ecology, teaching them to test water purity, recognising local flora and fauna, and visiting local monuments.

A senior Ministry of Education official stated, "Based on this review,



PSSCIVE will further fine-tune and finalise its guidelines."

The recent guidelines encourage bagless days throughout the year, incorporating various activities such as arts, quizzes, sports, and skill-based learning.

"Students will gain periodic exposure to activities outside the classroom, including visits to historical, cultural, and tourist sites, interactions with local artists and craftsmen, and visits to various educational institutions within their village, tehsil, district, or state, as mapped by local skilling needs," the official added.

The NCERT guidelines recommend activities such as visiting and surveying vegetable markets, charity visits, survey and report writing on pet care, doodling, kite making and flying, organising book fairs, sitting under Banyan trees, and visiting biogas plants and solar energy parks.