CBSE may make Class X board exams compulsory again

New Delhi: The central government may end the so-called no-detention policy, introduced under the Right to Education Act, in a phased manner and may look at making it compulsory for school students to take Class X board examinations in Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) schools.

The human resource development (HRD) ministry will discuss the two issues with state education ministers, experts and academicians at the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) meeting scheduled on Wednesday. CABE is the highest education policy advisory body of the HRD ministry. This is the first CABE meeting after the National Democratic Alliance government came to power in May 2014.

Under the no-detention policy, students automatically win promotion to the next class without being held back even if they do not manage a passing grade. This policy is followed until students reach Class VIII.

Some parents and teachers have expressed concern that the no-detention and making Class X board exams optional have eroded the quality of school education. Schools, students and parents have taken “schooling up to Class X too easy,” said a government official close to the development.

“There is a thought in the ministry that instead of no-detention policy up to Class VIII, it can be reduced in a staggered manner. One of the options being weighed is that no detention policy will stay up to Class V and examination system will return after that,” the official cited above said on condition of anonymity.

A second government official said that though the no-detention policy was brought to reduce stress among students, in the last five years it has not achieved the desired result. “Many states have suggested that it needs a relook. The ministry is taking this to CABE for a consensus view following which a policy can be devised,” a second official said.

The HRD ministry will also present the finding of a subcommittee report on the no-detention policy that was prepared a couple of years back by a group of state education ministers led by then Haryana education minister Geeta Bhukkal, according to the agenda note of the ministry for the meeting.

The government policy will affect more than 190 million pursuing education in primary and upper primary level.

The first government official said that the no-detention policy, the continuous comprehensive evaluation (CCE) and making the Class X board exams optional should be seen in tandem as they are “interconnected”.

The RTE Act was passed in 2009 and it came into force from 1 April 2010. It made education compulsory for students between the age of six and 14.

CCE was introduced to offset any shortcomings in the no-detention policy. “Continuous evaluation was thought to improve quality but many schools have not understood its merit yet. Like university tutorial system, this was thought to be a remedial education method and lead to better learning outcome but that has not happened,” said the first official.

Lalatendu Mahal, a school teacher in Hyderabad, said that since RTE came into force, students have stopped taking schooling seriously. “They know nobody will fail them and there is no Class X board exam too. Result: poor learning by students and lot of pressure on them from Class XI onwards,” he said, adding that ending the no-detention policy and bringing back compulsory Class X board exam will be positive moves.

Several studies have showed that learning outcome in schools have been poor over years.

According to the Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, India was ranked at the bottom among 74 countries in 2010-11. Similarly, the 2014 Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) by education non-profit Pratham said every second Class V student in rural India can’t read the text of a class three levels below. In 2005, when the first ASER report was published, three out of five children in Class V were able to read a Class II text.