Giving wings to dreams of children, Parliament passes RTE Amendment Bill scrapping no-detention policy in schools

New Delhi, January 4: Every child has the right to get education to the fullest and so the Parliament has given a nod and welcomed the revised Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill, 2019 by scrapping the no-detention policy. This means the schools will detain weak students in the same class if they fail to pass annual exams.

 

 

 

This move by the parliament is expected to impact more than 180 million students across 1.4 million elementary schools. It has been seen that once the amended bill gets the assent from the President, it will reinstatedetention for students of Class V and Class VIII if they fail to pass examinations. 

 

 

 

HRD minister Prakash Javadekar said the quality of school learning has been a talking point for years and states were demanding accountability in the school system. With the passage of the bill, states are now empowered to hold back students if they perform poorly in Class V and Class VIII.Following the amendment, students will get two chances to pass the examination and will be detained if they fail in both attempts.

The bill also allows the reintroduction of examinations for primary schools, was discussed for more than an hour in the Rajya Sabha and found support from a large section of political leaders, including the Congress.

In the last few years, 25 states have demanded a reversal of this policy, prompting the centre to amend the Act. With this decision of the parliament, the parents have also supported the move as learning outcomes of the students have been poor.

The Lok Sabha had passed the RTE Amendment Bill back in the month of July during the budget session.