Delhi government moves towards bringing back detention policy at schools

NEW DELHI: The Directorate of Education (DoE) has issued a circular stating that Delhi Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules 2022 has been amended, in a step towards bringing back the detention policy at schools.

It will come into force as soon as it is notified in the gazette. Following the gazette notification, the government will release the manner and conditions a child can be held back in his current class.

"In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 38, read with sub-section 3 of Section 16 of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act 2009, the lieutenant governor, hereby, makes the rule to amend the Delhi Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules 2011," the circular said.

"The rule may be called the Delhi Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Rules, 2020. The manner and conditions subjects to which a child can be held back under sub-section (3) of Section 16 will be notified by the government," it added.

In 2009, the RTE Act introduced the no-detention policy under which the students up to Class 8 had to be promoted. To ensure quality education, Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation was introduced, but it was scrapped in 2017 due to poor implementation.

In 2019, the Delhi government had approved the formation of a committee that looked into the removal of the no-detention policy, after Parliament amended the Act.