Maharashtra govt reintroduces annual exams for Class 5 and 8, no detention policy scrapped

The Maharashtra government has reintroduced annual examinations for Class 5 and 8, which will allow schools to detain students if they fail to clear these exams in the second attempt, an official said.

The state School Education Department issued a notification to this effect on Friday, which comes in the backdrop of the Centre amending the Right to Education (RTE) Act that had no failure detention till Class 8. Under the RTE 2009, schools could not detain any student until Class 8 as per the no detention policy.

The notification said that the annual examination will be held at the end of the academic year of Class 5 and 8. If the child fails to pass the examination, additional guidance will be provided and re-examination will be held in two months.

But if the child fails to clear the re-examination, then he or she will be held back in the same Class, it said. It, however, made it clear that no student will not be expelled from the school till the completion of elementary education.

The amendment made to the RTE in 2019 empowered states to reintroduce exams and detain students if they failed to clear them.