New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the scrapping of the no-detention policy in schools till Class 8. An enabling provision will be made in the Right of Children for Free and Compulsory Education Amendment Bill which will allow states to detain students in class 5 and class 8 if they fail in the year-end exam.
However, the students will have to be given a second chance to improve via an examination before they are detained, according to news agency PTI.
The bill will now be placed in parliament for approval.
A senior HRD official explaining how the system will work said if a student is unable to pass the annual exam in March, he/she will get another opportunity in May or June. Before reappearing in the exams, the students will be asked to attend ‘remedial classes’.
Once the new system comes into force, the onus would be on the states to decide whether to hold examinations in classes 5 and 8.
“An enabling provision will be made in the RTE amendment bill that will allow states to conduct examinations in class 5 and class 8 and detain students if they fail,” said a senior HRD official.
Under the present provision of the RTE Act, students are promoted automatically to higher classes till class 8. This is one of the key components of the RTE Act which came into force on April 1, 2010.
The no-detention policy is schools was introduced in the RTE Act to tackle the rampant dropout of students at primary and upper primary level. The policy however resulted in degrading the quality.
Maharashtra government is already working to allow teachers to detain students in class 5 and class 8 if they do noy perform.
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