The New Detention Policy in India: A Failure to Address Learning Outcomes

• The UPA government’s Right to Education reforms, including Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) and a ‘no detention’ policy up to Class 8, aimed to create a benign school environment.

• However, many students do not have foundational numeracy and literacy, and do not catch up by middle school.

• The NDA government attempted to eliminate the no detention policy in 2019, but the COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible for schools to consider detaining students.

• The Ministry of Education has mandated a final examination at the end of Class 5 and Class 8, assessing a child’s competence. If a child fails, they will be re-examined after two months after additional instruction. If they fail again, they will be detained.

• The policy is driven by practical necessity and the need for an educated, capable, and skilled population.

• The policy could be a political hot potato for some states, and private schools should not use it as an excuse to expel poor performing students.

• The policy brings back a single final examination as an arbiter of a child’s promotion or detention, a regression from the National Education Policy 2020.