– Reshma Ravishanker 

The central government’s recent announcement on scrapping ‘no-detention policy’ for classes V and VIII in schools under its jurisdiction has yet again triggered debates on the controversial policy.

So far, at least 16 states and two Union Territories in India have already done away with the ‘no-detention policy’ for classes V and VIII.

In Karnataka, where the introduction of board exams for classes V, VIII and IX had triggered a massive controversy, school managements have been expressing contradictory viewpoints about the Centre’s latest decision.

D Shahi Kumar, general secretary, Associated Managements of Private Schools in Karnataka (KAMS) said that Karnataka must take a cue from it and follow a similar policy. He welcomed the move. “If a student’s learning is not age-appropriate, a decision has been taken to retain them in the same class. We welcome this. Our state must implement the amendment to the Right to Education Act (RTE) in 2019. In Koppal district, the teachers’ association themselves revealed alarming details that over 7000 children cannot even read text in their mother tongue. CAG reports also indicate a decline in learning levels. The way to address all this is by allowing comprehensive assessments and detention in classes V and VIII.”

Contradicting this, T Lokesh, president, Karnataka Registered Unaided Private Schools Association, Karnataka said, “There is an ongoing case in the Supreme Court to not conduct exams for classes V or VIII. Even the SC agreed in an interim order that this levies unnecessary pressure on students and advised that board exams not be conducted for them. This is in violation of the RTE Act if you fail students in grades V and VIII. Once a student is declared as failed in a class, they will be dissuaded from coming to school. Parents will send them to earn daily wages instead. There will be a stark rise in the number of out of school children.”

Meanwhile, Manan Choksi, executive director, Udgam School for Children, Ahmedabad said, “Teachers, children and parents knew that there is no-detention policy till 9th grade. This led to dismal results in 9th grade. In Gujarat, we have rolled back the policy for two years and we have seen marked improvement in the seriousness towards academics this year. I think it is a good thing that the government has partially rolled back the ‘no-detention’ policy. It will improve the academic standards of the school.” 

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