New Delhi: Street plays, gardening, cooking competition and quizzes are amongst the activities that the Delhi government school students are participating in as the “10 Bagless Days” initiative has started for the ongoing academic session 2025-26.
Officials said that under the initiative, students attend school without their usual textbooks and focus on skill-building exercises. The concept was formally launched in the last academic session under the National Education Policy 2020, and now applies to classes I-VIII.
“The Union ministry of education has approved the ‘Bagless Days in Schools’ activity at the elementary level (classes I-VIII) for Samagra Shiksha-Delhi. The activities are scheduled to be conducted from January to February 2026. Activities shall be conducted two days every week until the 10-day requirement is met,” the education department said in a circular dated January 16, adding that ₹13,500 have been sanctioned for the initiative.
Principals and teachers told HT that they have a better roadmap for implementation this time.
Awdhesh Jha, principal of CM Shri School in Rohini Sector 8, has divided these classes into two groups: junior (I-V) and senior (VI-VIII). The activities for the senior classes are more subject-specific like quizzes, practicals in the lab and reading sessions in the library, whereas for juniors it is more physical activity oriented like nukkad natak and fancy dress competition.
“In our school, different teachers are good at different things so based on that we have allotted various activities to them. When it comes to students, every class has a bunch of students who are at the forefront when it comes to extracurriculars, but my focus through these ten days activities is to encourage introverts to open up. Our aim is to make it a personality enhancing exercise for students as well as give chances to teachers to teach what they love,” said Jha.
Similarly, Principal of Mangolpuri-based Government Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya, Ranveer Singh Dalal said: “We have just finished one bagless day out of the total 10. For junior classes, we encouraged the students to do gardening and learn names of various trees and plants in the school whereas senior classes were asked to explore the school, including spaces like the library. Their usual days are confined to four walls of the classes, so on day one we wanted to be free within the school premises,” said Dalal.
“In the coming days, we have planned to take them to different professional setups which are near the school to make them familiar with their contribution at a local level,” he added.
In another school based in Nangloi, a 43-year-old primary school teacher used one of the bagless days to pass on her love for cooking to her students with special focus on cooking process and nutritional intake.
“I asked students to prepare easy-to-make food items under the supervision of their parents and were also asked to creatively present them for potluck lunch. They had come with cartoon-themed sandwiches and wafer cones stuffed with popcorn. They were all so excited for me to taste their meal,” she said.