To detain or not to

Thiruvananthapuram: The Centre is planning to scrap the no-detention policy followed till standard VIII, according to an announcement made by Human Resources Development Minister Prakash Javadekar on Tuesday. Whether this will be an infringement on the Right to Education remains a question mark.

The Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) had earlier recommended that the 'no-detention' clause in the Right to Education Act be amended which may result in children from class V till class VIII being detained if they fail the school examination.

In pursuance of a resolution adopted at a meeting of the CABE held on June 6, 2012, a sub-committee was constituted to study the implementation of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) in the context of no-detention provision in the RTE Act, 2009. The panel submitted its report in August, 2014 and it was placed before CABE at its meeting held on August 19, 2014. All states and Union territories were asked to share their views on the no-detention policy. As many as 28 states have shared their views out of which 23 states have suggested modification to the policy.

The CABE had gone for the decision as many surveys had found that learning outcome had deteriorated with the implementation of the policy. Even the National Achievement Survey (NAS) conducted by NCERT had found that the learning outcomes of students were getting poorer.

As per the new decision, the HRD ministry would decide on fixing learning outcome for each class. Parents of students taking admission in classes 1 to 8 will be given a document which will include the details of what their child should know according to the class they are in, as  part of the learning outcomes decided by the central government.

For example, if a child is in class 4, he/she should know how to read headlines, subtitles and captions on TV and pamphlets.

The ministry will also amend the RTE rules to mention the parameters for assessment of the learning outcomes for each of the elementary classes.

As per the existing no-detention policy, students are promoted automatically to higher classes every year till the end of upper primary.

The policy was adapted the UPA government on April 1, 2010 to ensure that every child aged between 6 and 14 received school education. However, for the last many years, concerns have been raised about the negative impact of the policy on the academic performance of the students.

The matter regarding amendment to section 16 of the RTE Act, 2009 is under the active consideration of the ministry.

As per the new decision, students would have to pass class V and VIII examinations for promotion to the next classes. However, students of classes 5 and 8 who fail might get another opportunity to pass even if the existing policy is scrapped as proposed in the Right to Education (RTE) amendment Bill.

These examinations are to be scheduled before the commencement of the academic year in June. Students will be asked to attend remedial classes before sitting for the exams once again.

However, the onus would be on the states to decide whether to hold examinations in classes 5 and 8 as education is in the concurrent list. Those states which do not want any changes in the no-detention policy will also be free to continue with it.

All-Kerala School Teachers Union (AKSTU) general secretary N. Sreekumar told Deccan Chronicle that the suggestions on scrapping were discussed at CABE during the tenure of Smriti Irani in the HRD ministry.

The then education minister in the UDF government, P.K. Abdul Rabb, had agreed to the suggestions.

However, the stand was taken by the then education minister without consulting the stakeholders. The RTE Act would have to be amended for the purpose, Mr Sreekumar said.

Kerala Pradesh School Teachers Association president P. Harigovindan said that there was mixed response to the decision to do away with the no-detention policy.

The issues related to the measuring of the learning outcome. While the central rules stipulated that admissions to class I are to be made when a child is six years old, the state rules say that admission should be when the student is five years old.

This has its effect on the learning outcome every year. As a result, it was not fair to introduce any decision on measuring the learning outcome on the same scale across the country, Mr Harigovindan said.

Sujeev Jose, an English teacher of Government Higher Secondary School, Neduveli, said that there had been a fall in standards after the introduction of the no-detention policy.

However, any decisions on doing away with the policy should be made without losing the good aspects of the activity-oriented learning introduced in schools, Mr Jose said.