No backbenchers, lighter schoolbags next academic year: Kerala government
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Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala’s Education Minister V Sivankutty on Thursday has said that the government has decided to make schools in the state more ‘child-friendly and democratic’ in the next academic year, The Indian Express reported.
Education Department is considering to do away with the existing ‘row-based layout of classrooms’ which makes some students as ‘back benchers’. Another plan is to reduce the weight of schoolbags.
Alongside ratifying draft report of the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), the state Curriculum Steering Committee has looked into introducing ‘two changes’, the minister reportedly said.
Sivankutty said that the move is for making ‘schools more child-friendly and democratic’, adding that ‘there is a recommendation to reduce the weight of the schoolbags’ and steps will be taken to ‘scientifically reduce the weight after factoring in the physical fitness of the students.’
‘Besides, back benches in classrooms will be abolished to ensure that all students get equal attention and there is a democratic academic atmosphere in the classes. Accordingly, seating arrangements in classrooms will undergo changes,’ Sivankutty reportedly said.
The minister said that the both changes would be introduced in the next academic year beginning June 2026, adding that SCERT’s draft recommendations would be made public to seek opinions of all stakeholders.
The decision to change the seating arrangement comes after some schools in Kannur, Thrissur and Kollam districts introduced ‘horseshoe’, or semi-circle, seating arrangement placing students in the perimeter of the classroom.
The seating arrangement reportedly allows students face each other while enabling teachers to have a face-to-face interaction with all students.
The new seating arrangement was inspired by a 2024 Malayalam film Sthanarthi Sreekuttan, directed by Vinesh Viswanathan.
The movie tells the story of a backbencher, Sreekuttan who questions the traditional classroom arrangement, which eventually led to a U-shaped arrangement.