Maharashtra scraps no-detention policy in Class 5 & 8, brings back annual exams

Maharashtra’s School Education Department issued a gazette notification on Friday announcing the changes.
“There shall be annual examination at the end of every academic year of fifth class and eighth class. The State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), Maharashtra (Academic Authority) shall determine the format and procedure for the annual examination, re-examination and evaluation of class fifth and eighth class. If the child fails to pass the annual examination, then such a child shall be provided additional supplementary guidance for the respective subjects and re-examined within two months from the declaration of the result of the annual examination. If the child fails in the re-examination, he shall be held back in the fifth class or eighth class, as the case may be,” the notification states.

“No child shall be expelled from the school till the completion of elementary education,” it further states.
The changes will be applicable from academic year 2023-24, which began this month. Even as the SCERT is going to decide the format and procedure for the exam, these will be locally held exams at individual school levels.

“The SCERT may prepare question papers and finalise the evaluation process. But the exams will be conducted by schools. It will not be a centralised affair like a board exam,” Ranjit Singh Deol, Principal Secretary (school education), who issued the notification, said.

“This will help in improving the learning outcome of students. Along with enhancement in individual learning levels, it will also improve children’s performance in large-scale students’ assessment such as NAS,” he said.

The move has been welcomed by educationists who feel it will finally stop a “complacent approach” that had crept into school education under the RTE’s no-failure policy till Class 8.

A senior teacher from Gandhi Balmandir in Kurla, Jaywant Kulkarni said, “The annual exams will bring back the behaviour of being accountable. Children did not study seriously as they knew there was no failure, parents banked on it and with no failure in class there was no accountability for teachers too. The no-failure policy of RTE was rather misunderstood and students were progressing until Class 9. There was a huge backlog of learning gaps in Class 9 and it led to an increase in failure in Class 9.”

According to teachers, the situation will now change as students, teachers and parents will get to see the actual progress of the child in class 5 and 8.

Spokesperson of Maharashtra School Principals’ Association, Mahendra Ganpule said, “The no-failure policy under the RTE Act was in line with the Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE). It prescribed that even though there will be no failure, the child will be evaluated and based on its report, the learning will continue in the next class, which included remedial teaching. However, due to practical difficulties in effective implementation of the same, children kept going ahead in the next class.”

The gazette notification also brings a new clause in age-appropriate school admission recommended in RTE. It states, “A child shall be enrolled to an age-appropriate class up to fifth class. For age-appropriate admission in classes sixth to eighth, it shall be compulsory for the child to pass the annual examination prescribed for fifth class….”