Nodetention policy goes, but questions persist

The onus will be on the government to ensure that learning levels improve

The Lok Sabha last week passed The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (second amendment) Bill, 2017, to abolish the “no-detention” policy in schools. Under the current provisions of the RTE Act, which provides for free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to 14 years, no student can be detained up to Class 8. The provision was made in the Act because exams are often used for eliminating children who obtain poor marks, which compels them either to repeat the same grade or leave the school altogether.

But the change was necessitated by the fact that many states felt that the no-detention policy has adversely affected the learning levels of children. The parliamentary standing committee report, too, noted that there is no pressure on children to learn and on teachers to teach because of the policy.

There are equally strong arguments against the scrapping of the no-detention policy: This will mean that the State is blaming students (many of whom are first-generation learners) for their failure to learn in class. But the State needs to answer important questions: Did it try to implement the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) policy and tweak it when necessary, and explain to schools that CCE does not mean no evaluation? Did it provide the right resources for a child to learn? Did it invest enough in teacher training, pedagogy, textbooks and learning materials to make education a “joyful exercise”, as the Act states? Was a specified pupil-teacher ratio maintained in schools? Now that the State has moved the amendment to the RTE (Rajya Sabha is still to pass the Bill), the onus is on the central and states governments to provide the right atmosphere, curriculum and teachers so that learning levels improve. Hope they will rise to the challenge this time around.