 "RTE Amendments 2024: Schools now allowed to fail class 5 and 8 students")
In a major shift in school education policy, schools will now have the authority to ‘fail’ students in classes 5 and 8 if their performance does not meet required standards. The central government on Monday announced this amendment in the Right of Children and Free School Education Act 2010 (RTE Act 2010). The new amendments allow states to hold regular exams for the students of class 5 and 8 and hold them back if they fail. These amendments come five years after the RTE Act was amended, in 2019.
States are allowed to retake exams
Under the new rules, states are allowed to conduct ‘regular examinations for Classes 5 and 8 at the end of the academic year’. Students who ‘fail’ these exams will receive ‘additional instruction’ and have the chance to retake the examination two months later. If they still fail to meet the promotion criteria, they will be forced to repeat Class 5 or Class 8.
States like Gujarat, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, and Delhi have already announced that children failing in classes 5 or 8 would be retained there. However, Karnataka had announced regular exams — essentially, public exams — for Classes 5, 8, 9, and 11. The effort was struck down by the Karnataka High Court in March 2024. States like Kerala have been entirely opposed to the idea of exams in Classes 5 and 8.
No-detention policy of RTE Act
The original version of the Right to Education (RTE) Act included a ‘no-detention policy’, which prohibited the practice of failing primary school students in a lower grade. Under this policy, all students were promoted to Class 8 automatically, regardless of their academic performance.
Experts suggest that the ‘no-detention policy’ is essential to preventing dropout and ensuring school retention. However, most states were opposed to the policy, citing that it did not prepare students adequately for board exams and resulted in a higher failure rate in Class 10. In the CABE meeting in 2015, 23 of 28 states asked the government to scrap the policy.
In response, Parliament passed an amendment to the RTE Act in March 2019, enabling states to conduct regular examinations in Classes 5 and 8 and officially abolishing the ‘no-detention policy’.