New Delhi, March 31: The government is learnt to have decided to amend the Right To Education Act to partly scrap the no-detention policy and bring back performance-based promotions in Classes V and VIII, following a recommendation by a panel of education ministers.
Under the 2009 RTE Act, primary and upper-primary students - Classes I to VIII - cannot be failed now, irrespective of how they perform in school exams.
Sources today said the HRD ministry had decided to amend the law to reintroduce performance-linked promotions, but only in Classes V and VIII. A couple of months ago, the panel of eight state education ministers, headed by Rajasthan education minister Vasudev Devnani, had come up with this suggestion.
A ministry source said if a student's performance is poor, he or she might be given two chances before being detained.
At a meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) in August last year, most states, including Bengal, had wanted the system of continuous promotions scrapped, according to a statement the Centre had released then.
Educationministers and officials representing these states had said students, including those not serious about studies, were getting automatic promotion without being properly assessed. HRD minister Smriti Irani had then asked all the states to submit their views in writing.
In their feedback, 13 states - including Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Puducherry - said they wanted the no-detentionpolicy to be revoked. Some states, such as Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana backed the existing practice of continuous promotions till Class VIII.
Sources said Karnataka wanted the no-detention rule to continue, with the system of continuous evaluation - that the RTE Act also provides for - strengthened to assess the scholastic and co-scholastic abilities of children. CABE sources said Karnataka's view prompted the Centre to set up the panel to hold consultations with states and Union territories.
Many states have also said Class X CBSE board exams should be brought back. But the government is unlikely to take any decision on this now.
