Students can't be failed up to Class VIII, rules Madras HC

Allowing a petition by the father of a boy of a private school in Chennai challenging the latter’s detention in Class 6, Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar of the Madras High Court on Tuesday termed it illegal as it violated the new Central Act that took effect from April 1.

The petitioner-parent, Ka Kalaikottuthayam had contended that his son T Prabhakara Uthayam of Don Bosco Matriculation Higher Secondary School of Egmore could not be detained in Class 6 as the decision violated the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act.

The RTE Act 2010 not only makes education compulsory and free for all children aged 6-14 years, but also makes it clear that no student could be detained or “failed” by any Board or expelled till Class 8.
Setting aside the school’s order and directing the school authorities to admit the boy in Class 7, the judge reasoned that his ruling was based on Article 21-A of the Constitution and the provisions of the RTE Act.

The Tamil Nadu School Education Department’s recent circular prescribing norms for promotion/detention was “illegal”, since the RTE Act had already come into force on April 1 this year, the judge declared.

Justice Vasanthakumar did not blame the school for detaining the boy for having scored poor marks in the last annual examination. The school had “only carried out” the State School Education Department’s circular, the judge said. It was the circular that was invalid, he stressed.

However, the High Court verdict has brought to the fore the need for states to quickly frame new rules in conformity with the RTE Act, official sources told Deccan Herald on Wednesday.

“After the RTE Act coming into force, we have to frame our own rules, but that is not easy,” a senior official of the State Elementary Education Department said. Though the DMK regime has initiated “informal discussions”, there are other larger issues as well, the official said.

With ‘education’ being on the concurrent list, the state might have to enact a law similar to the RTE. Moreover, even in the concept of a ‘neighbourhood school’, to which any child in that area now has a basic right to attend under the RTE Act, “perceptions differ”, sources said.

When parents look for the “best” neighbourhood school, “how can we accommodate everyone,” the official asked, adding, other states like Kerala and Andhra Pradesh have also expressed difficulties in implementing the RTE Act.

Under the previous Jayalalitha regime, promotions in elementary schools up to Class 5 was made “automatic”. Then for Class 6 to Class 8, the School Education Department had sent out a circular saying any school could not fail more than 15 per cent of students in a class. It also sets out norms for ‘detaining’ students who failed in more than four subjects.