A day after the Union Cabinet decided to scrap the no-detention policy up to Class VIII, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia wrote to Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar on Thursday, saying it was time to “introspect”.
‘Emergency measure’
In his letter, Mr. Sisodia, who is also Delhi’s Education Minister, said the decision was necessary as an “emergency measure” since academic standards had been declining ever since the policy was implemented.
“However, the roll-back of this important reform is also a moment for us to introspect about education reforms in India. The ‘no-detention policy’ was a progressive education reform and it is unfortunate that we have had to roll it back. The reason we have had to do this is because it was poorly and thoughtlessly implemented,” he said.
Beyond stop-gap plans
Mr. Sisodia added that the policy needed a change in curriculum, improved assessment and better training of teachers to be successful. These, he said, had not been done.
“I think it’s time to move beyond stop-gap arrangements and fundamentally re-think what we teach and how we assess our students. Otherwise we are letting down the millions of children who put their faith in the government system and come and study in our schools,” he said.