Jaipur: To reduce the weight of school bags, Rajasthan State Council of Educational Research and Training has published new primary school books divided term-wise, with subjects merged so students need to carry only one book at a time from the upcoming academic year starting April 1.
Officials said the decision was taken in line with the National Education Policy 2020, and new books for the 2026-27 session have been published accordingly.
After the syllabus was split by term, books for Hindi, English, mathematics and EVS were merged so that a student can carry a single book covering all subjects for that term.
For Class 3, the book Gyan Sangam Part-3 has been divided into three parts, each covering all four subjects. Every part contains three chapters each for the different subjects, along with one worksheet to assess what students have learnt.
Another book, Sankhya Sansar Part 1, combines mathematics and EVS and has seven chapters, with one activity-based worksheet between the topics. The second part of the same book has six chapters each for both subjects, with two activity-based worksheets.
“Students will only have to carry one book which will be taught in any particular term. With three terms, books have been divided and merged in such a way that all subjects get divided equally. Once the test for that term is over, students will be asked to bring the next book, or it will be kept in schools for them,” said a senior official from RSCERT.
The previous Congress govt had set limits on school bag weight in the state, with books for Class 1 capped at 400 grams, 300 grams for Class 2, and 500 grams for Classes 3 to 5. Under the School Bag Policy 2020 issued by NCERT, a student’s school bag should not exceed 10% of the child’s body weight.
