Culture

HRD Ministry Wants To Scrap No-Detention Policy In Schools. Here’s Why It’s A Good Move

Swarajya Staff

Aug 31, 2016, 04:38 PM | Updated 04:38 PM IST

Prakash
Javadekar ... new push scrap no-detention policy in schools. Photo credit: Money
Sharma/AFP/GettyImages — Prakash Javadekar ... new push scrap no-detention policy in schools. Photo credit: Money Sharma/AFP/GettyImages

The HRD Minister is exploring ways to get rid of the policy through an executive route – whether he will succeed or not only time will tell.

The Right To Education (RTE) Act was brought into effect in 2009 and ever since it has been mired in controversies. The act in its present form favours some communities by exempting them from stringent rules prescribed in it.

These rules, many of which have been severely criticised, are however applied to schools run by other communities. This leads to a skewed education sector with privileged players enjoying all the advantages while others have to overcome legal and bureaucratic barriers. In many cases the prescriptions of the RTE Act end up damaging the cause it seeks to champion.

The no-detention policy is one such provision.

According to this provision “no child admitted in a school shall be held back in any class”. This translated into automatic promotions to the next class (no exams!) every year until Class VII. Instead of exams, schools are supposed to hold Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluations (CCE) for every child.

In practise, the CCE turned out to be a big disaster in the absence of adequate resources including number of teachers, seamless processes and a supportive ecosystem. A survey in 2015 indicated that nearly 20 percent of all teachers had not even heard of the CCE and where they had heard of evaluation they did not receive adequate manuals or training.

Without adequate checks, assessments or measurements teachers were found to be slacking off. Overall, the no-detention policy has caused a severe deterioration in learning outcomes. The New Education Policy released by the Human Resources and Development Ministry also confirmed this:

“Students, who are promoted to a higher class without academic validation simply on the basis of the no-detention policy, do not have the required educational competence, knowledge and skill to understand the lessons being taught in the higher class.”

If reports are to be believed, the new HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar wants to fix this issue by withdrawing the no-detention policy.

However, there is a catch. The policy is prescribed in the RTE Act and therefore any changes must go through the Parliament. Times Of India reports that the minister is exploring ways to get rid of the policy through the executive route.

Will he be able to push it through, or is the damage of RTE to our schools irreversible?

Also read:
How Rajasthan Is Fixing The RTE
New Education Policy Panel For Changes In Disastrous RTE Act