What is 'no detention' policy in RTE Act ?


According to this provision “no child admitted in a school shall be held back in any class”. This translates into automatic promotions to the next class every year until Class VII. Instead of exams, schools are supposed to hold Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluations (CCE) for every child.


Why has it introduced ?
No Detention provision was firstly introduced under Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE), 2009 its objectives are clear, e.g: "retaining every child in the school system and giving him/her full opportunity to complete school education, inclusiveness and minimizing the dropout rates, making learning joyful and removing the fear of failure".


Controversies and negative Impact
Under the policy every child has to get promoted to the next class or grade, irrespective of the outcome of assessment.
So a general message has got spread in the environment that "performance does not matter". One has to move to next grade as the time elapses. The reason, even if the assessment is carried out, it has no significance in the eyes of child, teacher and parents.

Many people appeared to have aggravated by the commonly misunderstood interpretation of the No detention policy.

Many States have also assumed it as a reason of high failure and dropouts in classes 9 and 10.

These led to create an unfavorable ecosystem and wrong message in the society so the objective of the policy has been adversely affected.



The Changes
In January, 2019, the Indian parliament has presented a Bill seeking to amend the Right to Education (RTE) Act - 2009 to abolish the “no-detention” policy in schools. You can find the more information about the Bill here.