Maharashtra Govt Reintroduces Annual Exams For Class 5 & 8, No Detention Policy Dropped

According to the 2009 RTE, schools could not detain any student until grade 8 under the no detention policy.

Bombay: The Maharashtra government has reintroduced annual exams for grades 5 and 8, allowing schools to detain students if they fail these exams on the second attempt, an official said. The state school education department issued a notice to this effect on Friday, which comes in the wake of the center amending the Right to Education Act (RTE), which had no detention until grade 8.

According to the 2009 RTE, schools could not detain any student until grade 8 under the no detention policy. The notification stated that the annual exam will be held at the end of the academic year of grades 5 and 8.

If the child does not pass the exam, additional guidance will be given and a re-exam will take place in two months. But if the child fails the re-exam, he or she will be kept in the same class, it said.

However, it made it clear that no student will not be expelled from the school until the completion of primary education. The change made to the RTE in 2019 gave states the power to reintroduce exams and detain students if they failed to pass them.