Over 3,700 students have been detained in Class IX in Goa

More than 3,700 students have been detained in Class IX in Goa during the academic session 2013-14, tells a survey conducted by the Union human resource development ministry.

The no-fail policy which was introduced in Goa in 2010 prohibits schools from detaining students up to Class VIII, but it seems to have resulted in high detention in Class IX, as the no-fail policy is not applicable here.

According to the HRD's national university for educational planning and administration (NUEPA) annual survey, over 2,400 boys and 1,350 girls had to repeat Class IX in 2013-14,

In July this year, the Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education had put the number of students detained in Class IX at over 6,700. The number was nearly 40% of all children who enter Class IX in Goa.

As per the board's data many city-based schools kept back a number of students in Class IX which was more than 50% of the students in the class.

Officials have long suspected that the number of detained seems to be higher in case of popular city schools as the institutions seem to be 'maintaining their standards of impressive Class X pass percentage'. While the officials feel that the trend has always existed, it is not clear if there has been a rise in detentions in Class IX due to the no-detention policy which prohibits schools from making students repeat a class up to Class VIII.

Authorities in the state have been blamed for the wrong implementation of the no-fail policy which was introduced abruptly to meet the central government's deadlines for enforcing the provisions of Right to Education Act 2009. The implementation of the continuous comprehensive evaluation (CCE) method of assessment in Goa came after the decision to implement the no-fail policy.

Implementation of the CCE means that students' performance in co-curricular activities is also taken into consideration when allotting marks like participation in various competitions like elocution, quiz, etc and they are also to be marked for their social skills, etc. But efforts are on in Goa to improve the CCE implementation in its true spirit.