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The Centre has removed the "no-detention" policy for Classes 5 and 8, allowing schools to retain students who fail to pass their year-end exams.
This change was made through the “Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Rules, 2024” published on December 16.
The policy update is in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2023.
Remedial measures will be taken to address learning gaps before deciding detention, including extra instruction and a re-examination within two months.
If the student still fails the re-exam, they will be retained in the same class.
Class teachers will assist both students and parents to identify learning gaps and provide targeted support.
No student will be expelled from school until Class 8, even if they fail.
No detention policy
The No detention policy is a clause under the RTE Act 2009 as entered in Article 16. It states:
“No child admitted in a school shall be held back in any class or expelled from school until the completion of elementary education”
The essence of the policy is that children should not be failed and detained up to Class 8.
Under the new rules, students in Classes 5 and 8 who fail to meet the promotion criteria in regular exams can now be held back
Till Class 4, In place of examinations, the Act mandated the implementation of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) process to assess and evaluate the student’s learning.
The CCE assesses student progress in multiple ways and uses the feedback in the teaching-learning process.
Unlike exams, CCE pattern also assesses students on the basis of their non- cognitive learning ability and evaluates them on non-academic areas.
The no detention policy along with CCE was implemented for the holistic development of the students throughout the year.
Further, no-detention was also sought as a tool to reduce the number of dropouts from the schools.
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