All play and no work had made Jack a mere toy. Many such Jacks are to be found all over India today. The no-detention policy introduced in schools from 2010 under the Right to Education Act has meant that students have been getting promoted till Class VIII no matter whether they have been studying or not. The alarming results of this apparently benevolent strategy, meant to increase enrolment in schools and reduce dropouts, are there for all to see. Surveys have found that less than 50 per cent of Class V students can manage to read a Class II text; there are Class X students who can just about spell their own names in English; the level of knowledge in languages such as English, even mother tongues, displayed by some graduates can inspire horror. The job prospects of such students would naturally be bleak. When they fail to get employment, they will only have the government to thank for giving them so much indulgence in their schooldays that their minds became stunted as they grew up. The ministry of human resource development seems to have realized the dangerous potential of the existing system of education, not just for students but also for the country and the government. The Central Advisory Board of Education is all set to scrap the no-detention policy from Class I to Class VIII. It had asked the states for their opinion on this issue, and more and more states are falling in line. The fact that even states ruled by parties ideologically opposed to the one at the Centre are giving their assent shows that people have woken up to the direness of the situation and are eager to reverse it.

The system of automatic promotion is based on wrong assumptions. It is not just the fear of failure that makes students stay away from schools. Most of the government schools in India lack basic infrastructure - there is a shortage of good teachers, the curricula are boring, the classrooms are small and dingy, and toilets, if they exist at all, are often too unclean to be used. If these shortcomings are dealt with, there will surely be an increase in enrolment. The no-detention policy for retaining students amounts to a quick fix, which lets the real problems go unaddressed. The Centre must strive forward with its proposal to get rid of the no-detention system. Simultaneously, it must make schools attractive and learning exciting so that students start enjoying the education they receive. That will lead to real development.