Centre scraps 'no-detention policy' for classes 5 and 8 students

The Centre has scrapped the nodetention policy for classes 5 and 8 in government schools allowing educational institutes to fail students who do not clear the yearend exams officials saidAccording to PTI following the amendment to the Right to Education Act RTE five years ago at least 18 states and Union Territories have already abolished away with the nodetention policy for the two classesAccording to a gazette notification if a child fails to fulfil the promotion criteria in the exam they shall be given additional instruction and opportunity for reexamination within a period of two months from the date of declaration of resultsIf the child appearing in the reexamination fails to fulfil the promotion criteria again he shall be held back in fifth class or eighth class as the case may be During the holding back of the child the class teacher shall guide the child as well as the parents of the child if necessary and provide specialised inputs after identifying the learning gaps at various stages of assessment the notification saidHowever the government has clarified that no child shall be expelled from any school till the completion of elementary education PTI reportedThe examination and reexamination shall be competencybased examinations to achieve the holistic development of the child and not be based on memorisation and procedural skills The head of the school shall maintain a list of children who are held back and personally monitor the provisions provided for specialised inputs to such children and their progress with respect to the identified learning gaps the notification further readAccording to senior officials from the Ministry of Education the notification will be applicable to more than 3000 schools run by the Central Government including Kendriya Vidyalayas Navaodyala Vidyalayas and Sainik SchoolsSince school education is a state subject states can make their decision in this regard Already 16 states and 2 UTs including Delhi have done away with the nodetention policy for these two classes Haryana and Puducherry have not made any decision yet while remaining states and UTs have decided to continue with the policy a senior official saidStates and UTs that have scrapped the nodetention policy include Assam Bihar Gujarat Himachal Pradesh Jharkhand Madhya Pradesh Meghalaya Nagaland Punjab Rajasthan Sikkim Tamil Nadu Tripura Uttarakhand West Bengal Delhi Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Jammu and KashmirWhen questioned about the delay in the notification since the amendment was approved in 2019 the official explained that the new National Education Policy NEP was announced within six months of the amendment reported PTIBy the time amendment was made NEP was announced within few months The department school education and literacy decided to wait till the recommendations of the new National Curriculum Framework NCF were ready to be able to take a holistic view NCF was ready in 2023 and subsequently the Ministry of Education took the decision and made some changes in rules of RTE implementation the official addedWith PTI inputs