Lok Sabha Question No. 389 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-06-24
Subject: Literacy Rate
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Meenakashi Lekhi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 389 TO BE ANSWERED ON 24.06.2019

## Literacy rate

389. SHRIMATI MEENAKASHI LEKHI: Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government is planning to provide special assistance to the State which have a literacy rate below the national average and if so, the details thereof; (b) whether the Government is planning to review its no detention policy in the light of the recent education reports on the performance of students in Government schools; and (c) if so, the details of the same?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SHRI RAMESH POKHRIYAL 'NISHANK')

(a) In order to focus on the areas where the literacy levels are low, the Department of School Education  &  Literacy  (SE&L)  has  identified  Educationally  Backward  Blocks  (EBBs). Initially 3073 EBBs were identified on the basis of the twin criteria of Female Literacy Rate being below the national average of 46.13 per cent and Gender Gap in Literacy being above the  national  average  of  21.59  per  cent.    Both  these  criteria  had  been  earmarked  by  the Registrar General of India (RGI). Further,  406  more  blocks  were  included,  out  of  which  404  blocks  had  rural  Female Literacy Rate of less than 45 per cent, irrespective of the Gender Gap.  In addition one Block from West Bengal with SC Rural Female Literacy Rate of 9.47 per cent was also included, taking the total number of EBBs to 3479. (b) & (c) Section 16 of the RTE Act, 2009 provided that 'No child admitted in a school shall be held back in any class or expelled from school till the completion of elementary education.' The

Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Act, 2019 amending 'No-

Detention' provision in sections 16 and 38 of the RTE Act, 2009, was notified on 11 th January, 2019. The RTE (Amendment) Act, 2019 provides that: A. (1) There shall be a regular examination in the fifth class and in the eighth class at the end of every academic year. (2) If a child fails in the examination referred to in sub-section (1), he shall be given additional instruction and granted opportunity for re-examination within a period of two months from the date of declaration of the result. (3) The appropriate Government may allow schools to hold back a child in the fifth class or in the eighth class or in both classes, in such manner and subject to such conditions as may be prescribed, if he fails in the re-examination referred to in sub-section (2): Provided that the appropriate Government may decide not to hold back a child in any class till the completion of elementary education. (4) No child shall be expelled from a school till the completion of elementary education. B. The clause namely (fa) "the manner and the conditions subject to which a child may be held back  under  sub-section  (3)  of  section  16"  has  been  added  to  section  38(2)  of  the  RTE  Act,

2009.