States Failing Children

Many states have decided to hold public exams and detain elementary school children.

- Atul Krishna

On March 1, 2019, an amendment to India’s most important law on school education, The Right of Child to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, was notified. The amendment permits states to do two things: hold examinations in Classes 5 and 8 and make children who fail these exams repeat those classes.

This overturned the “no-detention policy”– a crucial provision of the Right to Education (RTE) Act that, in 2010, had imposed a country-wide ban on the practice of making elementary school children who fail exams repeat classes. The decision came after years of deliberations pitting the state governments, many of which wanted the policy scrapped, against academics and activists who believe grade repetition will only encourage the most disadvantaged students to drop out.

Now, it is up to the states to decide whether to detain and several have decided to do so. Gujarat, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka have all decided to detain students. In addition to detaining children, most of these are also likely to hold public examinations, akin to board exams, in Classes 5 and 8.

Some states, including Delhi, are yet to finalise their policies. The Capital’s Aam Aadmi Party government had vehemently opposed the no-detention policy but is apparently in no hurry to implement the amendment. Kerala, which according to the Centre’s think tank, NITI Aayog, runs the best performing school system in the country, has chosen not to detain.

‘Regular examination’

“The state has a policy of 100% enrolment and 100% retention,” said A Shahjahan, secretary, Kerala General Education Department. “We have decided not to have a public exam for Class 5 and 8 and are continuing the same policy of no detention.”