CSR: Bharti Foundation and Rajasthan Education Department implement ‘No Bag Day’ initiative

Rajasthan, India: Bharti Foundation extended its support to the Rajasthan Education Department for strengthening the implementation of No Bag Day initiative in the government schools of six districts in the state. Since July 2022, the Foundation has supported the efforts of state government in achieving the vision of joyful and meaningful learning, to bring out the creativity of every child in the school and decreasing the burden of school bags on them. In the Jodhpur district, as a part of review and recognition, top performing blocks (Chamu, Lohawat, Dechu, Bapini and Aau) along with 131 best performing schools of Jodhpur were felicitated for their remarkable contribution towards the success of No Bag Day initiative.

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 lays emphasis on the implementation of various activities in the schools for holistic development of the children. It also recommends reducing the weight of school bags on children and having bagless days in schools. Bharti Foundation has been involved in curation of variety of resources under different themes for No Bag Day in line with the guidelines of Rajasthan Education Department. Furthermore, it has been supporting the state government in the sustainable design of monitoring & review mechanism of the initiative.

While emphasizing the importance of No Bag Day during the recent felicitation event, Sh. Prem Chand Sankhla, Joint Director, School Education – Jodhpur said, “As a part of larger effort to improve the quality of learning experience in government schools, No Bag Day was proposed for extensive implementation in the state. This innovative step promotes life skills in children while reducing the burden of school bags on them. We are thankful to Bharti Foundation for helping us strengthen the successful implementation of the initiative in the six districts of Rajasthan.”

Sh. Bhallu Ram Khichad, Chief District Education Officer and Ms. Santosh, Additional District Project Coordinator graced the event with their presence.

On the occasion, Ms. Mamta Saikia, CEO-Bharti Foundation, said, “We believe that education is not just about academic learning, but also about developing important skills that will help the children succeed in their personal and professional lives. We are grateful to the Education Department of Rajasthan in giving us the opportunity to explore the potential of No Bag Day and design interventions for joyful learning experiences and holistic development of children.”

Key activities under the initiative include creating activities for monthly memos to the teachers consisting of activities to be performed on themes like Rajasthan ko Pehchano, Bhasha Kaushal Vikas, Khelega Rajasthan Badhega Rajsthan, Main Vaigyanik Banunga and Balsabha – Apno ke sath. These activities have been designed to help children learn important life skills such as teamwork, language development, creativity, scientific aptitude and problem-solving skills. With NEP 2020’s goal of aligning India’s education system with the aspirational goals of 21st century education, providing a holistic quality education has become more important than ever.

Bharti Foundation through its Satya Bharti Quality Support Program has been supporting the government to scale up initiatives and processes in government schools at the district/state level. The key areas of intervention include leadership empowerment of heads of schools, building life skills in students, creating an enabling environment at home through the home mentoring initiative, and effective classroom transaction through the use of teaching learning material and supporting initiatives of NEP. Bharti Foundation has implemented Satya Bharti Quality Support Program – At Scale, in over 14,000 Government schools in India impacting over 17 lakh students and more than 57,000 teachers.