The ‘No Detention Policy’ will be amended under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, for which the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) agreed in October. This policy will permit the state governments to take decisions on conducting annual examinations for students of class 5 and 8. According to ‘No Detention Policy’, candidates up to class 8 will get promoted to the higher class even if they do not pass the exam with good grades. Union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar, earlier in the month had said that the government will reintroduce compulsory Class 10 board examination for CBSE schools from the 2017-18 academic year.
The government declared on Thursday that it has become compulsory for students studying in classes 5 and 8 to appear for annual examinations. Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Upendra Kushwaha told the Rajya Sabha that according to an annual survey by NCERT on the learning achievement of children in Classes - III, V, VIII and X, there is a need for notable improvement in their learning levels.
In a written reply, the minister said that the overview additionally noticed that the learning levels of children depended upon factors like financial, socio-geographic, the explanatory foundation of the understudies, accessibility of essential frameworks in schools, accessibility of prepared and skilled teachers in the schools, amongst others. Based on section 29 of the RTE Act, 2009, the government provides free and compulsory education for children at elementary level (CCE), in the age group of 6-14 and has to assess their learning levels and provide additional instructions accordingly. The minister said that the schools and separate governments are free to conduct direct intermittent examinations for children of all levels.