NEW DELHI, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has decided to declare Saturdays as "no school bag day" in all government schools.
The decision to soon allow children to go to schools without their bags on Saturdays was taken by the state education department at a high-level meeting chaired by Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma Friday, officials said Saturday.
The move is also aimed at taking load off students and encourage them to engage in fun activities, officials said, adding it will also help establish good rapport between students and teachers as well as help in their personality development, officials said.
Uttar Pradesh, the country's most populous state, is ruled by India's governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Soon after coming to power there some two months back, the party had pledged to improve the state's education system.
Earlier this week, the western Indian state of Maharashtra became the first in the country to impose a ban on sale of junk food in school canteens.
