MP Govt Revokes HRD's No-Detention Policy To Restore Quality Education

To restore the quality of education in the state of Madhya Pradesh, the government headed by education minister Vijay Shah has decided to scrap the no-detention policy of the HRD Ministry.

The no-detention policy is a mandatory provision under the Right to Education (RTE) Act which will let students get promoted until Class 8 however be their performance in the academia.

The revokement of this policy will however become effective in the next academic session only.

This decision was taken by the MP government after the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) meet on October 25, 2017. In the hig-level meet, it was proposed that no child shall be failed till Class 5. The HRD Ministry had given a free hand to the states to decide over the no-detention policy for students beyond Class 5. [You might want to read details on the CABE meeting held on Oct 25]

The majority view of the MP government about not detaining students till Class 8 was adversely affecting learning and teaching levels.

Confirming the move, minister of state for school education Deepak Joshi said that the government convened a meeting and concluded the policy should be revoked to restore quality education.

"We reviewed the policy and found it was adversely affecting both students and teachers. We found teachers were taking their job for granted as they knew students would be anyway promoted to the next class," he said.

This policy will be applicable to all government and private schools in the state, except the schools following the CBSE pattern. According to 2009 RTE Act, primary and middle class students cannot be failed, irrespective of their performance in exams.

According to some surveys, the detention system raised the dropout rate among students, mostly belonging to the economically weaker sections.

To overcome the high dropout rate in schools, the no-detention policy was introduced to provide school children with an environment free from and anxiety of exam.

However, this policy did not bring-in a desired impact, claims the Madhya Pradesh government. Sources in education department said the policy failed because most schools were not complying with guidelines.