New Delhi: The Union Education Ministry on Monday notified guidelines for implementation of bagless days for 6th, 7th and 8th standard students.

The guidelines were released on the fourth anniversary of the new National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 .

The NEP, 2020, had recommended that all students in classes 6 to 8 participate in a 10-day bagless period.

“The guidelines state that in these ten days, children will be given periodic exposure to activities outside school through visits to places such as monuments of historical, cultural and tourist importance, meetings with local artists and craftsmen, and visits to higher educational institutions in their village, taluk, district, or State.”

The guidelines further stated that these bagless days will be encouraged throughout the year for various types of enrichment activities involving arts, quizzes, sports and vocational crafts.

It also suggested that a minimum of ten days or 60 hours of school time should be allocated to the activities for this programme, out of the over 1,000 hours spent by teachers and children in the school in a year.

“Ten bagless days activities can be accommodated in any number of slots in an annual calendar, with all the subject teachers being involved in developing the annual work plan,” it stated.