In a significant development, the Central government has removed the ‘no-detention policy’ for classes 5 and 8 in schools run by it stressing that the new rules will help improve the learning outcomes while giving special attention to students who are not academically strong.

The Centre has amended the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2010, introducing provisions for regular examinations and holding back students in specific cases in Class 5 and Class 8 if they fail.

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Under the new “Right to Free Compulsory Child Education Amendment Rules 2024” effective from December 16, regular competency-based examinations will be conducted at the end of every academic year for Class 5 and Class 8 students.

If a student fails to meet the promotion criteria, they will be given additional instruction and a re-examination within two months of the results being declared.

However, students failing the re-examination will be held back in the same class.

Previously, the state governments had the discretion to implement detention policies. While 18 states have opted out of the no-detention policy, an equal number have chosen to retain it.

“The Government of India has decided that even after every effort, if detention is necessary, students may be detained. However, no child will be expelled from school until Class 8,” Sanjay Kumar, Secretary of School Education told reporters on Monday.

He added, “If a student fails, teachers will provide them with two months of additional instruction, and only in exceptional cases will the student be detained. The focus is on enhancing learning outcomes.”

The amendments also mandate that retained students receive specialised inputs to address their learning gaps. The examination process will be competency-based, ensuring holistic development rather than rote learning.

In 2009, the Right To Education Act introduced the ‘no-detention policy’ under which the students up to class 8 had to be promoted. To ensure quality education, Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation was introduced, but it was scrapped in 2017 due to poor implementation.

Right to Education was amended in 2019 to empower state governments to decide on the introduction of detention policies, which were previously prohibited until Class 8. The amendments aimed to address concerns regarding learning outcomes.

Kumar highlighted that in 2019, 18 states decided to abolish the no-detention policy, while the other 18 continued with it.

The new rules mark a significant policy shift in elementary education aimed at improving learning outcomes.

To address learning gaps, class teachers are required to guide students and, if necessary, engage with their parents. Teachers will provide specialised inputs based on assessments to help the students improve. School heads must maintain a record of students held back and monitor their progress closely.