PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday expressed anger at the delay in the enactment of a law by the provincial government for fixing weight limit of schoolbags and ordered the early tabling of a proposed law in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly for approval.

A bench consisting of Justice Qaiser Rasheed and Justice Ahmad Ali directed additional advocate general Syed Sikandar Hayat to produce a report about the status of the proposed law on the next hearing.

The court was hearing a petition filed by lawyer Moamer Jalal, who contended that the carrying of heavy schoolbags badly affected the physical and mental growth of students but the government had turned a blind eye to the issue.

The petitioner sought the court orders for the government to legislate to fix weight limit for schoolbags in light of the age and weight of students.

In April this year, a high court bench headed by Justice Qaiser Rasheed had given four months time to the government to enact the relevant law. However, the government is still dragging its feet on the issue.

Seeks govt report on status of proposed law

Last month, the court was informed that the government had drafted a bill on the matter and would table it in the assembly in near future.

The bill already vetted by the law department will be referred to the assembly after the cabinet’s approval.

When the bench took up the petition for hearing on Thursday, the additional advocate general was asked about the status of the legislation.

The AAG and a representative of the education department told the bench that the bill had been finalised and would be referred to the assembly in near future.

Justice Qaiser Rasheed observed that it was an important issue but the government had been delaying it.

The bench observed that the government was unable to present a single bill in the assembly.

It ordered the early tabling of the bill in the assembly and asked the government to inform it about its status on the next hearing.

The schedule of the next hearing will be announced later.

Justice Qaiser Rasheed observed that in several cases, minor students had to cover long distances on foot carrying heavy schoolbags.

The petitioner didn’t turn up for the hearing due to the strike of lawyers.

In his petition, he said a deputy medical superintendent of the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, Karachi, had sent a letter to different schools warning that heavy bags could cause neck, back and shoulder pain to children.

He also referred to different research studies saying it will be appropriate that the schoolbag weight should not be more than 10 percent of the child’s body weight.

The bill drafted by the education department said the schoolbag’s weight will not be more than 15 per cent of the student’s and that schools violating that limit would be de-recognised.

Section 7 of the proposed law says the principals and teachers of such public sector schools will be dealt with under the relevant rules, while private schools will be fined up to Rs200,000 each.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2019