Govt to implement amended no-detention policy from April 1
The Delhi government’s amended no-detention policy — that says students of government and private schools can be detained in Classes 5 and 8 in certain circumstances — will come into effect from April 1.
Hindustan Times had in August last year first reported about the Delhi government approving recommendations of the advisory committee formed to amend the no-detention rules.
The committee was set-up to advise the government after the Parliament had amended the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009, in January last year and done away with the no-detention policy, under which no student could be failed till Class 8. The states were given the option of deciding if they wanted to continue with the policy or not.
According to officials familiar with the development, the government will issue a notification announcing the implementation of the amended policy in March first week. “The government had last year approved the recommendations given by the committee and decided to implement the amended no-detention policy in classes 5 and 8. But it was decided to implement it from the next academic session. The government is expecting to issue a notification announcing the implementation in March first week. The amended policy will come into effect from April 1 this year,” a senior government official said.
The official said that the government has decided to do away with the term “detention” and replace it with “extension”, as recommended by the committee.
The committee, chaired by Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) member Anurag Kundu, had submitted its report in March last year, wherein it had recommended detaining the students in Class 5 and 8, only if they failed to get 40% marks in their reassessment.
It had recommended that 30% weightage should be given to attendance of students (15 marks), their participation in co-curricular activities (10 marks) and their parents’ attendance in parent-teacher meetings (5 marks). The remaining 70% of assessment will be broken into three parts— 10% based on minimum competency to be attained at primary and upper primary levels and 30% based on generic assessment that will be done on the basis of questions about a passage, picture or diagram from each subject. The rest of the 30% assessment will be based on the standard subject-wise testing currently being practiced in schools.
As per the committee’s recommendation, the overall score of the students will be counted out of 100% in Classes 5 and 8. If the student scores less than 40%, then they appear in a re-examination. In case, any student failed to score 40% overall marks after the re-assessment, then he or she will be asked to repeat the class.
Principals and teachers in both government and private schools said that the amended policy will bridge the “learning gap” among students. Devinder, principal of Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya (SBV) in Rouse Avenue, said, “It is very important to set up certain percentage to promote students up to Class 8. With the no-detention rule, students suddenly came under pressure in Class 9. This amendment will help bridge the gaps in learning levels and student will take their studies seriously up to Class 8 as well.”
Alka Kapur principal of Modern Public School in Shalimar Bagh, said that schools were witnessing “major issues” with the no-detention policy. “Both students and parents take studies casually till Class 8 and the absenteeism is also massive. The pressure then mounts in Class 9 and many of them fail. Now they will get used to of evaluation from the beginning,” she said.
ENDS