Govt may bring bill to amend 'no detention' policy in schools

The government may introduce a bill to amend the 'no detention' policy provision in the Right to Education (RTE) Act that does not allow children to be failed till class VIII, in the current session of Parliament itself, officials said today.
The government may bring a bill in this session that would allow states the liberty to decide whether they want to detain children, in class V and VIII, after holding an exam, an official said, two days after the Union Cabinet gave a nod to such a proposal.
However, the students will be given a second chance to improve by conducting another examination before they are detained, the official said.

It is expected that in the winter session of Parliament the bill would be cleared, he added.
According to an official, over 20 states had wanted a change in the policy as it was felt that it had resulted in a dip in educational standards.
It was observed that the drop-out rate after class IX suddenly went up, the official said.

At present, Class IX is when exams in which students can be failed are held, the official added.
However, some states like Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh were not too keen as they felt that the system of continuous evaluation was working out fine, the official said.

He added that after the amendment a choice would be left to the states as to whether they want to detain students or not.
The official said that modalities like from which session the provision could be taken up would also be discussed in a meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE).