NEW DELHI: The Centre on Monday scrapped the ‘no-detention policy’ for students of Classes 5 and 8. Under the new rules, students who do not clear the annual exam will be given an opportunity to retake the test within two months and will be held back in the same class if they fail the retest.
However, the Education Ministry said no child would be expelled from any school till the completion of elementary education. According to senior officials, the notification would be applicable to over 3,000 schools, including Kendriya Vidyalayas, Navodaya Vidyalayas and Sainik Schools, run by the Centre.
According to a gazette notification, if a child fails to fulfil the promotion criteria after the conduct of regular examination, he/she shall be given additional instruction and opportunity for re-examination within two months from the date of declaration of results.
“If the child fails to fulfil the promotion criteria again, he will be held back in Class 5 or Class 8, as the case may be,” the notification added.
It further said during the holding back of the child, the class teacher would guide the child as well as the parents, if necessary, and provide specialised inputs after identifying the learning gaps at various stages of assessment.
“The Centre has taken this decision to improve learning among children,” said Sanjay Kumar, Secretary, Department of School Education & Literacy.
Following the amendment to the Right to Education Act in 2019, at least 16 states and two UTs have already done away with the ‘no-detention policy’ for the two classes.
The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, had introduced the ‘no-detention policy’. It barred elementary school children who failed exams from repeating a class. The provision was amended in 2019 to give the states an option of deciding if they wanted to continue with the policy.