What is the ‘no-detention policy’ that the Centre has scrapped? Which states will still follow it?

The government has scrapped the ‘no-detention policy’ for students in classes 5 and 8.

But what does this mean for students?

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This means that students who do not pass their year-end exams will be marked as failing and will need to retake the tests.

Children who do not meet the promotion criteria will have a chance to retake the exams within two months of the result declaration.

Why was this policy scrapped?

If students fail to meet the promotion criteria, they will be given a chance to reappear for the exams. If they fail again, they will be retained in Class 5 or Class 8.

During this period, the class teacher will work closely with the student, and if required, their parents, providing targeted support to address any learning gaps, according to a government notification issued on Monday.

Previously, Section 16 of the Right to Education Act, 2009, restricted schools from detaining students up to Class 8. When the Bill to amend the RTE Act and revoke the no-detention policy was introduced in the Lok Sabha, then Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar described it as an important reform supported by most state governments.

He said that it would bring accountability to elementary education, adding that “schools have become only schools for the mid-day meal, as education and learning are missing.”

One of the key reasons the Central Advisory Board of Education called for scrapping the policy in 2016 was that students were no longer taking their studies seriously.

Sanjay Kumar, Secretary of the Department of School Education & Literacy, told Hindustan Times, “We want access, but we also want to improve learning outcomes among students under New Education Policy (NEP) 2020. Through changes in the rules, we will be able to pay attention to those students who are not good at studies due to some reasons.”

“The focus is on enhancing learning outcomes,” he said.

According to officials, the reform has been widely supported as it gives academically struggling students an opportunity to improve and pass exams, rather than being automatically promoted without mastering the basics, News18 reported.

Despite these changes, the government said that no child will be expelled from school until they complete their elementary education.

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Why was this policy introduced?

The ‘No Detention Policy’ was introduced in 2009 under the Right to Education Act, which aimed to provide free and compulsory education to every child in India up to Class 8.

The primary goal of the policy was to prevent students from being held back due to poor academic performance, as this was seen as a major factor contributing to school dropouts.

By allowing automatic promotion, the policy aimed to create equal opportunities for children from diverse backgrounds and enable them to complete elementary education regardless of academic challenges.

Experts argued that the policy was crucial for preventing dropouts and improving school retention rates.

However, many states opposed the policy, arguing that it left students ill-prepared for board exams and contributed to higher failure rates in Class 10. In 2015, during a CABE meeting, 23 out of 28 states recommended scrapping the policy. As a result, Parliament amended the RTE Act in March 2019, allowing states to conduct regular exams in Classes 5 and 8 and officially ending the No Detention Policy.

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Which states have scrapped the policy?

More than fifteen states have scrapped the no-detention policy. These include Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand, and West Bengal.

Further, two Union Territories (UTs) - Delhi and Daman and Diu & Dadra and Nagar Haveli - have also discontinued the policy.

Which states will continue with the policy?

The no-detention policy is still in effect for Classes I to VIII in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Manipur, Mizoram, Odisha, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Ladakh, and Lakshadweep.

Tamil Nadu’s School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi announced on Monday that the state will continue to follow the ’no-detention policy’ up to class 8.

Notably, Haryana and Puducherry are yet to make a decision regarding the implementation of the policy.

No detention policy scrapped: What does the notification say? Who will it impact?

The gazette notification specifies that students failing to meet promotion criteria after regular examinations will be given extra instruction and an opportunity to reappear for a re-examination within two months of the results being announced.

“If the child appearing in the re-examination fails to fulfil the promotion criteria again, he/she shall be held back in fifth class or eighth class, as the case may be.”

During this period, class teachers will support both the student and their parents, offering specialised guidance tailored to address the student’s learning gaps.

Examinations and re-examinations will follow a competency-based format aimed at promoting holistic development rather than relying on memorisation and procedural skills.

The head of the school will maintain a record of students held back, oversee the provision of specialised inputs for these students, and monitor their progress in addressing the identified gaps, the notification said.

This decision will affect approximately 3,000 Central schools, including Kendriya Vidyalayas, Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas, Sainik Schools (under the Ministry of Defence), and Eklavya Model Residential Schools (under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs).

It comes five years after the Right to Education Act, 2009, was amended in 2019 to allow the “appropriate government” to hold back students in Classes 5 and 8.

Explaining the delay, officials stated that the National Education Policy (NEP) was announced shortly after the amendment. The Department of School Education and Literacy chose to wait for the new National Curriculum Framework (NCF) to take a holistic approach.

With the NCF finalised in 2023, the Ministry of Education revised the RTE rules, leading to this notification, officials said.

With inputs from agencies