Lockers in schools to end heavy school bag problem

 

Primary school pupils are to use only two exercise books per subject, the ministry says.

PUTRAJAYA: The education ministry will provide lockers in primary schools, at a cost of RM37.3 million, to deal with the problem of schoolchildren carrying heavy school bags.

Education minister Radzi Jidin said the first phase would involve pupils in Year One, Two and Three in schools operating in dual sessions. A total of 323,186 pupils in 10,662 classes will benefit.

The second phase, expected to start next year, would involve pupils in Year Four, Five and Six in schools operating in dual sessions.

Pupils in single-session schools would keep their books in desk drawers in their classrooms, he said in a statement today.

In addition, schools would have timetables with three to four subjects daily, and they would also have the flexibility to prepare timetables according to a weekly rotational system.

Radzi said exercise books would also be limited to two per subject, with each not exceeding 80 pages.

Besides that, pupils would only be allowed to use activity books provided by the ministry while workbooks can only be used as reference materials.

“Teachers are encouraged to use a student-centred teaching and learning approach,” he said.

The ministry would also continue producing new textbooks in digital format. So far, a total of 692 titles have been published.

Radzi said the ministry was also having talks with the Islamic development department (Jakim) to give flexibility to students to wear their school uniforms during Kafa (Quran and Fardu Ain) school sessions. - FMT