16-Jan-2019: The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Act, 2019 has been notified in the Gazette of India
The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Act, 2019 which was passed by the Parliament on 3rd January, 2019 received the assent of the President of India on 10th January, 2019. It has been notified in the Gazette of India.
18-Jul-2018: Lok Sabha Passes Bill Allowing Detention Of School Children
The Lok Sabha today passed The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Second Amendment) Bill 2017 which allows detention of school students in class 5 and 8, enabling states now to allow schools to fail the child if he/she fails in either or both classes and withhold their promotion to the next standard.
The original RTE Act - This was one of the main components of the RTE Act which came into force on April 1, 2010 - stipulated 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 demands for repeal of ''no detention'' policy were made by many states and Union Territories in recent years which observed students scoring poor marks. It will be at the discretion of the states whether to continue with no detention or not.
The amended Act will now have provisions not only for examination in both these classes, but will also extend powers to the state to hold back children, if they fail in re-examination. If a student fails in second attempt, he/she can be detained.
Majority of state governments support this amendment citing that the amendment will bring accountability in our elementary education system.
12-Jan-2017: NITI Aayog calls for review of RTE Act.
NITI Aayog has called for a review of the provisions of the Right To Education Act that stipulate children who fail cannot be held back up to class VIII. It opines that the good intention behind the norm is detrimental to the learning process.
Right To Education (RTE) Act, which aims to provide primary education to all children aged 6-14 years, stipulates that no child can be held back in a grade, regardless of his performance, all the way up to the eighth grade.
The purpose behind this provision is to minimise the drop-out rate, since demoralization resulting from failing a class leads to children withdrawing from school altogether. But the provision takes away the pressure to learn and to compete as it already said in its review of the 12th Five Year Plan.
According to Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2014, one of the largest non-governmental household survey, the proportion of children aged 6-14 years enrolled in school in rural areas has been above 96 per cent for the past six years.
The real problem, the Aayog said, is the quality of education as measurement by student achievements. The ASER report finds that more than 50 per cent of the fifth graders cannot read second standard level text.