Tamil Nadu will uphold its ‘no-detention policy’ for students up to Class 8, School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi has confirmed. The decision comes in response to the Centre’s recent move allowing schools to detain students in Classes 5 and 8 who fail their exams, which the minister described as a significant obstacle for children from disadvantaged backgrounds seeking uninterrupted education.
Poyyamozhi said the Centre’s move created a big stumbling block for children from poor families to get educated without any hassles up to class 8, and this was “regrettable”.
The Centre has scrapped the ‘no-detention policy’ for classes 5 and 8 in schools governed by it allowing them to fail students who do not clear the year-end exams, according to officials.
Following the amendment to the Right to Education Act (RTE) in 2019, at least 18 states and Union Territories have already done away with the ‘no-detention policy’ for the two classes.
According to a gazette notification, after the conduct of regular examination, if a child fails to fulfil the promotion criteria, as notified from time to time, he shall be given additional instruction and an opportunity for re-examination within two months from the date of declaration of results.
“If the child appearing in the re-examination fails to fulfil the promotion criteria again, he shall be held back in fifth class or eighth class, as the case may be.
“During the holding back of the child, the class teacher shall guide the child as well as the parents of the child, if necessary, and provide specialised inputs after identifying the learning gaps at various stages of assessment,” the notification said.
However, the government has clarified that no child shall be expelled from any school till the completion of elementary education.
According to senior Ministry of Education officials, the notification will be applicable to over 3,000 schools run by the central government including Kendriya Vidyalayas, Navaodyala Vidyalayas and Sainik Schools.
States and UTs that have scrapped the no-detention policy include Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Delhi, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Jammu and Kashmir.