Students Cannot Be Detained Till 8th Standard Under RTE Act

July 18, 2018

School-Child — Image used for representation only

The Right to Education Act was formulated to help ease the academic pressure on students and allow them to prepare themselves for the years ahead, yet, there have been cases when the said act hasn’t been adhered too, leading to students being detained in junior classes.

A recent judgement from the Chattisgarh High court stated that students cannot be detained until till 8^th standard irrespective of attendance etc.

Referring to Section 8 of the Act, Justice Sanjay K Agrawal observed that an obligation upon the state government is not only to provide free and compulsory education to every child but also to ensure his attendance and completion of elementary education

Attendance of a child in the school is also an obligation of the State,’ the learned court said.

“It is true that if the petitioner has not attended the classes, it is likely to have the adverse effect on the learning of the petitioner/child who has not attended the school, but Section 16 of the Act of 2009 does not allow holding back of children in any class until the completion of elementary education for any reason whatsoever it may,” the bench said directing the school to award a certificate certifying that he has completed his elementary education.”

The RTE Act has been implemented in Maharashtra as well, however Pune’s parents and schools do not seem to see significant merit in some of its provisions:

A city-based Principal who spoke to Pune365 said, “Our school follows all the guidelines issued under RTE.

If a student is failed in his final exam, he is given a re-examination and extra lectures are arranged for that group or a particular student, and so far we haven’t faced an issue where we needed to detain a child.”

A teacher who wishes to stay anonymous, says our school follows the CBSE board and I believe we don’t come under this act. Although we promote students with upto 5 grace marks, it is a fact that if a student can’t perform better at his lower secondary, he is bound to fail in higher standards.

It is better than the child sits in the same class again and learns well, instead of getting promoted. More so when the students have the calibre to pass with flying colours.

Such rules should be applied in extreme cases only to prevent students and parents possibly taking advantage of this rule. This may be beneficial economically, but it could hamper the education of the child in the long run.

Manjiri Gaikwad, web designer says, I am certainly not in favour of the act and believe that the child must truly love his studies.

Implementing such rules may impact the children negatively, since they will believe they are now taken care off and this may lead them to lose focus on studies.

Another parent Mohini says, “If the act is made by mandatory we are bound to support it and no school should go against it.”

Rajni Munde, a working woman says, “Not all schools in the city follow such rules.

My kid was detained in the 6th standard for two marks. Every school is liable to promote a student with at least with 5 – 10 grace marks through their school education. It was only after we informed the school about the RTE, did they promote him.

There is very low awareness of the act and not many parents know of its existence. I wasn’t aware either till the time my son failed, Munde added.

The rule was made as many students at a younger age attempted suicide as a consequence to failure and this was done to ease the burden from students, says Jayashree Shah, Parent.

If the government is implementing this rule across all schools, the children won’t take their studies seriously. This can hamper their education and it is inappropriate in my opinion.

The syllabus is planned keeping in mind the mental ability of the children. Some students are slow learners and we should let them learn at their pace, Shah added.

#All views expressed in this article are those of the individual respondents and Pune365 does not necessarily subscribe to them.