Panaji: The ‘no detention’ policy of the government for the school students up to grade eight as a part of their Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation under the Right to Education Act has clearly failed in Goa to achieve its purpose, and is seriously affecting the quality of education in children reaching tenth grade.

This fact was acknowledged by the state education department as well as the Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, with both educational bodies observing that the policy has not been implemented in the state in right spirit.

Incidentally, as per a national survey carried out by the Union ministry for human resource development, over 3,700 students – 2,411 boys and 1,353 girls – out of the total 28,417 students had been detained in class IX in Goa during the academic year 2013-14. The ‘no-detention’ policy is not applicable from class IX onward to the students here.

This annual survey carried out by the ministry’s National University for Educational Planning and Administration further states that 14.51 per cent of the total class IX students failed in Goa during the academic year 2014-14, while the dropout rate of class IX students was 13.07 per cent in the same academic year.

A trustee of the city-based People’s High School, Rahul Deshpande had recently revealed that the central educational legislation offered nothing but ‘fairy tale’ education to the students, further adding that in the People’s High School itself, 80 per cent of the class IX students failed in all subjects, once they crossed the ‘no detention’ barrier.

“The teachers felt that this situation arose as the students passing through ‘no detention’ barrier didn’t know the basic education at all,” he had maintained, stating that the situation was more or less same in most of the schools in the capital city, reports The Navhind Times.

Education director G P Bhat told ‘The Navhind Times’ that the number of students passing class IX examination has reduced after the implementation of the ‘no detention’ policy.

“This should not have happened as it is against the educational norms,” he stated, “And if more students are failing in class IX, after being promoted till class VIII, then it is the failure of the educational system.”

Bhat also said that for the proper implementation of the CCE, every classroom should have limited number of students say, between 25 and 30 students per class, as the CCE feature demands continuous evaluation of every student, which means personal attention is to be provided to every pupil in the class.

Incidentally, the Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education is considering extension of benefits of the ‘no detention’ policy to class IX and X students, which is presently in force for students from class I to VIII.

Bhat said the Goa Board has come out with certain guidelines for the same, but its implementation for classes IX and X has not commenced yet.

Goa Board chairman Jose Remedios Rebello, told ‘The Navhind Times’ that currently the Goa Board has kept the particular decision on hold.

“The government is presently reviewing the ‘no detention’ policy in force at the lower level, that is up to class VIII, and based on this review, decision as to whether implement the same for class IX or not, would be reached,” he informed.

Rebello also said the guidelines prepared by the Goa Board for extension of ‘no detention’ policy to class IX include a provision, wherein, in certain cases, if a class IX student is found to require additional evaluation, then he could be detained in the same class, for the next academic year.

In fact, the Goa Board proposes to change the ‘passing criteria’ in the students’ report cards to ‘qualifying criteria’. It also proposes adequate school infrastructure to implement the CCE in a right manner.

Dattatray Naik of the All-Goa Secondary School Teachers’ Association was not available for a comment.