Teachable moment

The Union Cabinet’s decision to modify the “no-detention” policy under the Right to Education Act marks a small but significant step towards improving India’s abysmally low education outcomes for school leavers. The fact that some 24 state administrations are keenly awaiting a parliamentary amendment to allow for evaluation-based promotions for lower-school students from the 2018 academic year suggests that the Centre is responding to the reality that 20 per cent of students drop out in class IX, a symptom of a systemic flaw. Under the current law, originally designed to encourage children to stay in school, students are to be