Gujarat government scraps no-detention policy in primary schools

Gujarat government scraps no-detention policy in primary schools
on Sep 26, 2019

The new rule will come into force from this academic year of 2019-20 and applies to all private and government primary schools in Gujarat. he BJP government in Gujarat on Tuesday scrapped the no-detention provision of the Right to Education (RTE) Act which mandated not holding back any student of primary schools even if she flunks exams.

Here's what Gujarat Education Minister said:

Now, in accordance with the Centre's recent amendment to the RTE Act 2009 regarding the no-detention policy, the state government has announced that students of standard 5 and 8 will have to appear for annual exams and repeat the course if they fail twice, said Gujarat Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama in Gandhinagar.

No-detention policy in primary schools:

The minister said the new rule will come into force from this academic year of 2019-20 and applies to all private and government primary schools in Gujarat. Under the current provisions of the RTE Act, no student can be detained till class 8 and all students get automatically promoted to next grade even if they fail the exam.

Quality of education in the primary section:

Chudasama claimed the new provision would improve the quality of education in the primary section. A state government release stated an annual exam for classes 5 and 8 will now be conducted by the Gujarat Council of Educational Research and Training (GCERT) instead by schools.

Schools cannot expel a student:

To safeguard the students, the state government has made it clear that schools cannot expel a student merely because he has failed the exam, it added. Parliament in January approved a bill to amend the RTE Act to abolish the 'no-detention policy' till class VIII.