What’s in the news?

• The Centre has done away with the “no-detention” policy for Classes 5 and 8, paving the way for schools to fail students who are unable to clear year-end exams. 
• The Ministry of Education has published a gazette notification, titled “Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Rules, 2024”, which states that if a child fails to fulfil promotion criteria in Classes 5 or 8 in the regular examination, they can be held back. 
• In the Rules, the Ministry also emphasised the need for remedial measures for such students to close learning gaps. 
• While the Right to Education Act, 2009 had been amended to scrap the no-detention policy as early as 2019, the Rules have been notified only now. 
• After all other options are exhausted, if there is a need to detain the student, they shall be detained. At the same time, no student should be expelled from school until Class 8.
• The ‘no-detention’ policy was enshrined in the Right to Education Act, 2009, but one of the significant concerns was that the policy led to high failure rates.
• Since school education is a State subject, governments can make their own decision in regard to keeping or doing away with the no-detention policy. 
• Currently, 16 States and two Union Territories including Delhi, detain students who fail in Classes 5 or 8, while the remaining States and U.T.s continue to implement the ‘No Detention’ policy.

https://www.thehindu.com/education/centre-scraps-no-detention-policy-for-classes-5-and-8-students-who-fail-to-clear-year-end-exams/article69018641.ece