Education activists and parents are alleging that several top schools in Delhi-NCR (Delhi-National Capital Region) allegedly held back students in Classes VI and VII, in stark violation of the Right to Education Act of 2009.
The Ministry of Education's Department of School Education and Literacy notified guidelines on 'Examination and Holding Back in Certain Cases' in December 2024, after the 2019 amendment to the Right to Education (RTE) Act 2009.
"The amended rules allow schools to detain students in Classes 5 and 8 only, that too after giving them additional opportunity for re-examination within two months from the date of declaration of results," advocate, education activist & All India Parents’ Association (AIPA) President Ashok Aggarwal told PTI.
He stated that there was no detention policy till Class VIII before the amendment. However, the government revised the act to include a provision for detention in the fifth and eighth grades.
Several parents complained because schools required their children to either take a school-leaving certificate or repeat the class in VI or VII.
"My son is in Class VI and we have been told that if he does not clear the re-exam scheduled in May, he will not be promoted to the next class. But norms say that students cannot be detained in classes other than V and VII. My son couldn't score well due to bad health this year," a parent based in Gurgaon told PTI on condition of anonymity.
According to Ashok Ganguly, former chairman of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), the Right to Education Act, the National Education Policy (NEP), and the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) all prohibit any school from detaining a student in Classes VI and VII.
Ganguly noted that detaining pupils in Classes V and VIII may be questionable at this point due to the lack of established procedures by the individual state governments and education boards.
Section 16A of the RTE Act requires periodical examinations in Classes V and VIII at the end of each academic year.
"If a child fails to fulfil the promotion criteria, he shall be given additional opportunity for re-examination within two months from the date of declaration of results," the act says
The guidelines further provide that if the child presenting for re-examination fails to meet the promotion standards, they would be held back in Class V or VII, as the case may be.
