Cabinet scraps ‘no detention’ policy

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the scrapping of the no detention policy, which was introduced under the Right to Education Act, 2009, allowing schools to fail and expel students up to class 8. 

The Bill, which will now be placed before the Parliament, would allow the states to detain students in class 5 and class 8 if they fail their year-end exam. 

The states, however, will have to give them a second chance before promotions to the next class is declined, according to the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

Under the current provision of the RTE Act, students are automatically promoted to higher classes till class 8. This was one of the key components of the Act which came into force on April 1, 2010.