Right to Education and No Detention Policy

On 31 December, 2015, a Centre-appointment panel, led by Rajasthan education minister Vasudev Devnani, has recommended revocation of the ‘no-detention policy’. Here is a backgrounder on the issue.

What is RTE?

The Right to Education Act (RTE), 2009 makes provisions for free and compulsory education for children between 6 and 14 under Article 21A of the Indian Constitution. This article was inserted into Part-III (Fundamental Rights) in the constitution via the 86th Constitutional amendment of the constitution.

What is No Detention Policy?

Under this policy, the students up to class VIII are automatically promoted to the next class without being held back even if they do not get a passing grade. The policy was implemented as part of the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) under the RTE Act in 2010 to ensure all-round development of students. The concept of CCE imported from the West, which emphasises on evaluating a child through the year, and not just based on performance in one or two term exams.

What is the Class X Board exams policy?

Class X board exams are optional for all CBSE students. The students can choose either school-based exams or board-based ones. In case of school-based exams, the exams are conducted within their own school and answers are evaluated by the teachers of the school. In case of board-based exams, the exam is conducted at an allotted centre and answers are evaluated at designated centres.

Why were these policies implemented?

Several surveys conducted by the government and various NGOs had revealed that the detention system led to increased dropouts among students, especially from economically and socially weaker sections, who cannot afford costly private education. In order to overcome this, the no-detention policy was brought in to provide elementary school children an environment free from fear, anxiety and stress and allow them to learn and grown on their own pace. The main idea was to reduce the undue stress of competition among students, parents and the educational institutions.

What are the issues with NDP?

After few years of implementation of no-detention policy, it was found to be counter-productive. Many government school teachers and principals conceded that it became a big challenge to ensure minimum learning levels among the children. They complained that the policy led to students developing a lackadaisical attitude towards their studies. Parents also didn’t bother as their children cannot be held back in the class. The system makes no difference between good and bad students. Several studies have showed that learning outcome in schools have been poor over years.  The 2014 Annual Status of Education Report (ASER)brought by the Pratham, an education non-profit organisation said that every second Class V student in rural India can’t read the text of a class three levels below.

What is the government’s view?

In 2012, a sub-committee set up by the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) under then Haryana Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal, had come up with a conclusion that no-detention policy has had a “very bad” impact on the children. The committee recommended that the no-detention policy be implemented in a phased manner so that all stakeholders understand what it entails instead of interpreting it as zero assessment. The committee was of the view that it should be applied only till Class V instead of Class VIII. The committee also recommended that government should make it mandatory for students to register minimum attendance of 80 per cent in their classes so that they are benefited by the CCE under the RTE Act.

Since the report was finalized in the last year of the UPA-government, no action was taken. The present HRD Minister held a series of meetings including with school children and the general opinion favoured for examinations for lower levels as well as for Class X.  In August 2015, at a meeting of CABE chaired by HRD Minister, a broad consensus emerged on scrapping of the NDP and bringing back the board exams in Class X. The Ministry asked all states to give their views. While most of the states are in favour of scrapping of NDP, few states are against it.

Vasudev Devnani Panel

On 31 December, 2015, a Centre-appointment panel, led by Rajasthan education minister Vasudev Devnani, has recommended revocation of the ‘no-detention policy’. The panel had sought opinion of 22 states, of which 18 favoured revoking the policy. The key recommendations of the panel are as follows:

• Introduction of state level compulsory exams for classes V and VIII. Students, who fail to achieve the required learning level, will be given one more opportunity to clear the exam in one month time. In case they fail to achieve the learning level again, they have to repeat the respective class.
• No-detention policy should be applicable to classes I to IV, VI and VII subjected to required learning levels. Those who fail to achieve the learning level will be marked as unsuccessful in their report cards.

How can these policies be reversed?

The NDP can be revoked by amending the RTE Act. The Class X board examinations can be re-introduced through an executive order.

What are the arguments in favour of no-detention policy?

Several educationists and academics have asserted that the NDP and CCE are based on sound principles of pedagogy and assessment and are recognised world-wide. They are welcome change to the exam-centric education culture prevailed in India. The no-detention policy embraces the concept of equity especially for children from low-income groups and girls. High repetition and high dropout rates have been a major issue since the 1990s. The NDP seeks to address that concern. There is no research evidence to suggest that the repeating a year helps children perform better rather it leads to more dropouts from the system. Research does say that repeating has adverse academic and social effects on the child.

There is a common misconception that no-detention means no assessment. CCE is the assessment system under RTE and it should go hand in hand with no-detention policy. CCE allows for assessment of students on non-cognitive and non-academic areas of learning. Here a child need not be failed just because of non-performance on a narrowly defined and rigid set of indicators. There is lack of awareness regarding the implementation of CCE. The failure of implementation process is equated with failure of policy itself. The CCE failed to take off in most schools due to lack of basic capacity and awareness. In the absence of CCE, a no-detention policy has no meaning. There are also assumptions that students can only learn under the threat of failure. As long as there are such beliefs, the groundwork for reforms will not be ready. The failure of a child is the failure of the system as a whole, rather than that of the child. Instead of proposing the changes in the learning process, we are victimising the children.

What is the way forward?

The poor learning outcomes of schools are caused by many factors of learning. One of them is the pupil-teacher ratio. Many government schools in India are facing acute shortage of teachers. And the available teachers are burdened with non-school activities. Until the desired pupil-teacher ratio is achieved, it is unreasonable to expect CCE and NDP to succeed. Other factor responsible for poor learning outcomes is the lack of trained teachers. Lack of training has caused the confusion among the teachers on what their role is in implementation of CCE guidelines. Teacher training must be revised in line with the requirements of CCE. Instead of strengthening the foundation to implement the reforms, bringing back the old pass-fail system threatens to undermine the egalitarian promise of the RTE.