Lok Sabha Question No. 186 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-02-03
Subject: No Detention Policy
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Shri Eatala Rajender, Smt. D K Aruna, Shri Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 186 ANSWERED ON 3 rd  February, 2025

## No Detention Policy

186. Shri Eatala Rajender: Shri Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy: Smt. D K Aruna:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is planning to remove 'no detention' policy for students from Classes V to VIII with a aim to improve the quality of education and learning outcomes among students;
- (b) whether Gross Enrolment Ratio has increased in some States including Tamil Nadu;
- (c) whether the quality of education measured through learning outcomes among school students had been deteriorating; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof, State-wise especially in Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana and also the current status of the same?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY)

- (a): The  Right  of  Children  to  Free  and  Compulsory  Education  (Amendment)  Act, 2019 amending sections 16 and 38 of the RTE Act, 2009, was notified on 11th January, 2019.  RTE (Amendment) Act, 2019 states as under:
- '16(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 subsection (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.'

The Central Government has issued notification, duly amending the Right of Children to  Free  and  Compulsory  Rules,  2010  to  give  effect  to  the  amended  provision  of Section 16 of the RTE Act, 2009 introduced vide RTE (Amendment) Act, 2019. The rules are applicable to the Central Government schools and the schools established, owned  or  controlled  by  the  Union  Territories  having  no  legislature,  for  which  the Central Government is the appropriate Government as per section 2(a) of the RTE Act, 2009. These rules were notified vide G.S.R 777 (E) dated 21 st  December, 2024.

As  per  Rule  16A  of  RTE(Amendment)  Rules,  2024,  the  manner  and  conditions subject to which a child may be held back is:

- '(1) There shall be regular examination in the fifth class and in the eighth class at the end of every academic year.
- (2) After the conduct of regular examination, referred to in sub- rule (1), if a child fails to fulfil the promotion criteria, as notified from time to time, he shall be given additional  instruction  and  opportunity  for  re-examination  within  a  period  of  two months from the date of declaration of results.
- (3) If the child appearing in the re-examination referred in sub -rule (2), fails to fulfil the promotion criteria again, he shall be held back in fifth class or eighth class, as the case may be.
- (4) During the holding back of the child, the class teacher shall guide the child as well as the parents of the child, if necessary, and provide specialised inputs after identifying the learning gaps at various stages of assessment.
- (5) The Head of the school shall maintain a list of children who are held back and personally monitor the provisions provided for specialised inputs to such children and their progress with respect to the identified learning gaps.
- (6) The examination and re-examination shall be competency-based examinations to achieve the holistic development of the child and not be based on memorisation and procedural skills.

(7)  No  child  shall  be  expelled  from  any  school  till  he  completes  elementary education.'

(b): As  per  UDISE+,  the  Gross  Enrolment  Ratio  (GER)  of  Tamil  Nadu  in  the  year 2013-2014 for Secondary (Class 9-10) was 73.8 which has increased to 97.5 in the year 2023-2024. Details of GER National/State wise are available on the UDISE+ portal. The same may be accessed at 'https://dashboard.udiseplus.gov.in/udiseplusarchive/#/reportDashboard/sReport'.

(c) and (d): Ministry of Education has been implementing a rolling programme of sample based National Achievement Survey (NAS) at classes 3, 5, 8 and 10 at an interval of three years to assess children's progress and learning competencies. The latest round of  NAS  (now  referred  to  as  PARAKH  Rashtriya  Sarvekshan)  was  conducted  on  4th December, 2024 across the country to assess the competencies developed by students at the end of foundational, preparatory and middle stages (i.e., Students currently in 3rd, 6th  and  9th  Grades)  in  the  subjects,  Language,  Mathematics,  the  World  Around  Us, Science and Social Science.

State-wise report card indicating the grade-wise and subject-wise performance of students from all States/UTs including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh in NAS 2017 and NAS 2021 is available in the public domain and may be accessed at https://nas.gov.in/report-card.  The  NAS  2021  report  card  of  Andhra  Pradesh,  Uttar Pradesh and Telangana is annexed as Annexure.

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ANNEXURES REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART  (C) & (D) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION  NO.  186  FOR  REPLY  ON  03.02.2025  ASKED  BY  HON'BLE  MP  SHRI  EATALA RAJENDER, SHRI CHAMALA KIRAN KUMAR REDDY AND SMT. D K ARUNA REGARDING NO DETENTION POLICY

Annexure

National Achievement Survey 2021-Aggregate percentage for the number of correct

## answers given

| Grade    | Subject        | Andhra Pradesh   |
|----------|----------------|------------------|
| Grade 3  | Language 57    |                  |
| Grade 3  | Mathematics    | 54               |
| Grade 3  | EVS            | 53               |
| Grade 5  | Language       | 47               |
| Grade 5  | Mathematics    | 40               |
| Grade 5  | EVS            | 43               |
| Grade 8  | Language       | 49               |
| Grade 8  | Mathematics    | 35               |
| Grade 8  | Science        | 36               |
| Grade 8  | Social Science | 35               |
| Grade 10 | English        | 49               |
| Grade 10 | Mathematics    | 32               |
| Grade 10 | Science        | 35               |
| Grade 10 | Social Science | 37               |
| Grade 10 | MIL            | 39               |

| Grade    | Subject        |   Uttar Pradesh |
|----------|----------------|-----------------|
| Grade 3  | Language       |              58 |
| Grade 3  | Mathematics    |              54 |
| Grade 3  | EVS            |              54 |
| Grade 5  | Language       |              52 |
| Grade 5  | Mathematics    |              41 |
| Grade 5  | EVS            |              46 |
| Grade 8  | Language       |              47 |
| Grade 8  | Mathematics    |              33 |
| Grade 8  | Science        |              35 |
| Grade 8  | Social Science |              36 |
| Grade 10 | English        |              34 |
| Grade 10 | Mathematics    |              29 |
| Grade 10 | Science        |              31 |
| Grade 10 | Social Science |              33 |
| Grade 10 | MIL            |              38 |

| Grade    | Subject        | Telangana   |
|----------|----------------|-------------|
| Grade 3  | Language 48    |             |
| Grade 3  | Mathematics    | 44          |
| Grade 3  | EVS            | 45          |
| Grade 5  | Language 43    |             |
| Grade 5  | Mathematics    | 35          |
| Grade 5  | EVS            | 38          |
| Grade 8  | Language       | 48          |
| Grade 8  | Mathematics    | 32          |
| Grade 8  | Science        | 35          |
| Grade 8  | Social Science | 34          |
| Grade 10 | English        | 48          |
| Grade 10 | Mathematics    | 29          |
| Grade 10 | Science        | 34          |
| Grade 10 | Social Science | 36          |
| Grade 10 | MIL            | 36          |

MIL: Modern Indian Language, EVS: Environmental Studies