India, Sept. 3 -- The state school education department has directed schools across Maharashtra to ensure that students' school bags weigh no more than 10% of their body weight.

The directive, issued by the school education commissioner on September 1, applies to all schools - government, government-aided and private. They have been told to plan their classroom timetable in such a way that students carry only books, notebooks and other study material needed for the day, thus bringing down the weight of their bags.

The directive refers to guidelines issued by the Union education ministry on August 11, on reducing the weight of school bags. The central guidelines had stressed the need for schools to monitor the weight of school bags and c...