The Department of Primary and Secondary Education is still undecided on whether a public examination for class 7 students will be conducted in the current academic year.
A meeting on Wednesday chaired by Primary and Secondary Education Minister S. Suresh Kumar was inconclusive, sources said.
K.G. Jagadeesha, Commissioner for Public Instruction, said no decision had been taken, but officials of the department tried to explain to the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR) that no child would be detained.
Teachers and students waiting anxiously to know if the exam will be conducted in March have been left in a fix. “We have just three months to prepare students for the exam if the department decides to go ahead. We are in a fix on how to design our classes,” said a government school teacher from north Bengaluru.
Several stakeholders had opposed the move to conduct a public examination. Many teachers had pointed out that it was too late in the academic year to take a decision.
However, Mr. Suresh Kumar had earlier claimed that many teachers and parents had batted for a public exam as it would help them understand the child’s learning levels. He had even said that the examination would be only an assessment for the 2019-20 academic year, and that students would be detained only from the 2020-21 academic year.
The KSCPCR had issued a notice to the department over its proposal and stated that it was against the mandate of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 and other constitutional provisions. The commission had mooted a regular exam conducted in the classroom by the subject teacher in a child-friendly environment instead.
Sources said that while the Union government had amended the no-detention policy in the RTE Act, the State government was yet to deliberate on this matter and make suitable amendments to the legislations.
