Govt allows schools to fail classes 5 and 8 students, abolishes ‘no-detention policy’

The central government has abolished the no-detention policy for standard 5 and 8 in its schools. According to the policy, the Centre has ordered the schools to detain the students who failed their final exams.  

The Centre had amended the Right to Education Act (RTE) 2009 in 2019 to prevent schools from detaining classes 5 and 8 students. However, after the new notification released, around 18 states and Union Territories did away with the 'no-detention policy' for these classes.  

According to a gazette notification, after the conduct of regular examination, if a child fails to fulfil the promotion criteria, as notified from time to time, he shall be given additional instruction and opportunity for re-examination within a period of two months from the date of declaration of results. 

"If the child appearing in the re-examination 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 said. 

However, the government has clarified that no child shall be expelled from any school till the completion of elementary education. 

"The examination and re-examination shall be competency-based 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 read. 

According to senior Ministry of Education officials, the notification will be applicable to over 3,000 schools run by the central government including Kendriya Vidyalayas, Navaodyala Vidyalayas and Sainik Schools. 

"Since 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 no-detention 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 said. 

States and UTs that have scrapped the no-detention 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 Kashmir. 

Asked 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. 

"By 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. 

"The 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 added. 

With inputs from PTI