Rajya Sabha member N. Gokulakrishnan has called for enlarging the scope of free and compulsory education from pre-primary to secondary level.
Mr. Gokulakrishnan, who had participated in the debate in Parliament on an amendment to Section 16 of the The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, that would empower the Union and State governments to allow schools to hold back a child in Class 5, Class 8 or both, said extending the benefit of education to the 3-16 age group had correlation with employability. Most job recruitments demand at least a pass in Class 10, he pointed out.
Mr. Gokulakrishnan recommended clubbing the option to the State governments on “no detention policy” for children of classes 1 to 8 with a concerted effort to improve the quality of teaching and retention of children. Twinning both objectives would raise students’ performance and reduce drop out rate at the secondary level.
He pointed out that the Act was having a provision of “no detention policy”, which meant that a child could not be held back in Classes 1 to 8 until the completion of elementary school. It mandated conducting regular examination in Class 5 and 8 at the end of every academic year. So, in case the child failed in Class 5 and 8 examinations, that child would be given additional chance or an opportunity to appear for a re-examination within two months from the result. If the child fails again in re-examination, then the child may be held back in class 5 or 8 or in both cases.
States’ preference
According to the MP, the Bill empowered the Union and State governments to decide whether to hold back or not to hold back children in any class till the completion of elementary education. However, he feared that the objective of the proposed amendment would get diluted as it was not clear how many States would prefer the amendment over the “no detention policy”.
He pointed out that the experts had recommended rolling back the “no detention policy” either partially or completely, for reasons including lack of preparedness of the education system to support the policy, worries that an automatic promotion system would discourage children from working hard to low accountability of teachers and poor learning outcomes.
“Regarding students’ performance, it is better to evaluate a child over a graded system instead of numerical marks pattern which paves way for comparison among the student community. It affects their morale. This may, in the long run, dissuade a child from the process of learning,” Mr. Gokulakrishnan added.
