Up to states to decide on no-detention policy, says Secy, dept of school edu

: The Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has taken a decision to scrap the no detention policy in consultation with the state governments but it is yet to be implemented.

Anil Swarup, secretary of the department of school education and literacy under the HRD ministry on Tuesday said that it is up to the state governments whether they would implement the detention policy for Classes V to VIII. The amendment in the Right to Education (RTE) Act will allow the state governments to take their decision in this regard.

He was speaking the a seminar "Transforming lives through Education and Innovation" organised by ASSOCHAM at a city hotel. When asked about the state government's claim that Centre is imposing policies upon the states, Swarup said: "The decision was taken with the consensus from various state governments. I am not in a position to react on the comment of the state Education minister.

State Education minister Partha Chatterjee recently accused the Centre for not consulting the state government while tabling the Bill to scrap the no-detention system from Classes V to VIII. Chatterjee also blamed the Centre for creating confusion over the issue.

It is up to the state governments if they will detain or not detain their students in classes. The amendment which will be made in the RTE Act allowing the state governments to take their own decision in this regard, the official maintained.

"According to the existing rule, one cannot detain a student and we are going to end this system. It is up to the state governments if they would detain the candidates or not. Majority of the states are, however, in favour of detention," Swarup maintained. It may be mentioned here that the amendment is necessary as the current "no detention" provision under RTE Act, prohibits schools from detaining or expelling any student up to Class VIII.

Asked about the removal of pieces written by Rabindranath Tagore and Ghalib from NCERT textbooks, Swarup said no decision has been taken in this regard yet.

"I don't think there is any such proposal. You and I can't stop a discussion on a topic in Parliament," Swarup said. It may be mentioned here that Trinamool Congress MPs had raised the issue in Parliament on Monday and protested against Centre's attempts to remove Rabindranath Tagore from NCERT textbooks.