Detention policy in schools back from this academic year

The state government will reintroduce the detention policy, either in Class 5 or Class 8, or in both classes.

BENGALURU: The state government will reintroduce the detention policy, either in Class 5 or Class 8, or in both classes. A final decision will be taken next week. This means students who do not secure minimum pass marks will have to repeat the class to improve their scores.As the Central government has left it to the discretion of the states to take a decision on revoking the no-detention policy, the Karnataka government, which has been batting for scrapping the policy since several years, has now decided to do away with it from the 2019-20 academic year.

Principal secretary to the department of primary and secondary education, S R Umashankar, said, “To improve the quality of education, there is a need to revisit the no-detention policy and re-introduce pass/fail system at Class 5 or Class 8. The central government order on the detention policy asks us to decide on the implementation pattern. We will bring in the pass-fail system in either Class 5 or Class 8 or in both the classes.”

“As of now, all preparations are being made, but due to the Model Code of Conduct, it was delayed. But we are firm that the detention policy will come into effect from the 2019-20 academic year. The only thing we have to decide on is whether to have it at one level or at two levels,” he added.

In the last Parliament session, both Houses cleared the bill on scrapping the ‘No Detention Policy’ and left it to the state governments to decide.

School managements in the state, which had been demanding re-introduction of pass/fail policy (detention policy) for long, have welcomed the development. General secretary of the Associated Management of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka, D Shashi Kumar, said, “This will definitely improve the quality education and also help bring back discipline in classrooms. We were demanding this since several years. And we demand this at both the levels — Class 5 and Class 8.”

On the other hand, academics have opposed the move. Niranjanaradhya, an expert in primary education, said, “With this Bill, the central government has proved that it has not just systematically failed to implement The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act) but also conveniently decided to punish over 150 million children for its failures. The Parliament will fail in its duty to bring systemic changes to build an equitable education system.”

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