Dhaka: The High Court (HC) on Wednesday issued a direction prohibiting use of school bags for students of pre-primary levels while limiting the weight of school bags for primary level students not more than 10 percent of their body-weight.

A HC bench of Justice Moinul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Ashish Ranjan Das issued the order after hearing a rule asking the government to explain as to why it should not be directed to formulate a specific law or regulation prohibiting use of heavy school bag.

The court asked the authorities to enact the law by six months. The apex court also ordered to issue a notification by a month before ratifying the act.

Earlier, in 2015, HC counsels Masud Hossain Dolon, Mohammad Ziaul Haque, and Anwarul Karim filed a writ petition seeking directive from the HC on the government to formulate a law or rule or policy prohibiting use of school bag weighing more than 10 per cent of a child’s weight and restricting use of bag for pre-primary students.

Later, on 11 July 2015, High Court issued a rule on the petition.