Delhi Schools May Enforce Detention Scheme Again

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules 2022 have been amended, according to the recent circular from the directorate of education (DoE), and will take effect as soon as they are published in the Delhi Gazette. This is a move to reinstate the detention policy at schools. According to the amendment, “The manner and conditions subjects to which a child may be retained under sub-section (3) of Section 16 would be notified by the Government.” The government will announce the manner and conditions following the gazette notification.On whether the rule will go into effect at the start of this school year, there remains uncertainty. Inquiries about the situation received no response from government officials.The lieutenant governor “hereby makes the rule to amend the Delhi Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules 2011 in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 38, read with sub-section 3 of Section 16 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act 2009,” states the DoE circular. Delhi Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Rules, 2020 could be the name of the regulation.The RTE Act implemented the no-detention policy in 2009, requiring that all students up to Class VIII be promoted. Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation was introduced to guarantee high-quality instruction, however it was abandoned in 2017 due to ineffective execution.

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Ashok Agarwal, an RTE activist and supporter, questioned the latest action and claimed that “they are introducing a rule that will bring in conditions to fail children in different classes.”After Parliament revised the Act, the Delhi government approved the creation of a committee in 2019 to investigate the repeal of the no-detention policy. Students in classes V and VIII may be held, per the committee’s recommendation. It was originally scheduled to go into effect in April 2020, however because to Covid-19, schools had to switch to an online format, delaying the implementation.It will be a tool to hide the shortcomings of schools and lay the responsibility for subpar performance on kids and their parents, according to Agarwal.Another protester, attorney Khagesh Jha, stated: “Such a policy will harm a huge number of kids at a time when learning levels have been affected by Covid-19.”Teachers, on the other hand, contend that the policy has lowered the standard of instruction.

Source: Times of India