Education minister Vinod Tawde, who is chairman of the committee constituted by the HRD ministry to suggest changes to the ‘no detention policy’, on Wednesday submitted recommendations of the committee that suggested changes to the policy. One of the suggestions for students from class five to eight who fail the exams is that they would be given one more chance to pass within a month of the results being declared, after which they would be made to repeat the class in case they’re unsuccessful. The committee also recommended conducting baseline and competency tests that are currently being held in Maharashtra schools.
With a view to encourage students and avoid stress, as well as conform with the clauses of the Right to Education Act, the central government implemented the ‘no detention policy’. Schools were told not to detain students from class one to eight and in case of failure to pass them after making them write the exam again within a month of the results being declared. However, based on some studies it was found that the policy was resulting in students being passed without proper comprehension of the concepts or subjects. Hence, the MHRD decided to revisit the issue and formed a committee with representation of five states, inclusing Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh and Rajasthan.
If implemented, the decision could result in an increase in repeaters. As class 9 does not have the ‘no detention policy’, students who are unable to understand the concepts tend to fail.
Such students then have to appear for the SSC exams privately as schools do not allow them to repeat the class. The absence of ‘no detention policy’ in class nine also allows schools to do away with weak students so as to ensure 100 per cent results in the SSC board exams.
