Kolkata: The West Bengal Government has decided to bring back class examinations in standard V and VIII.
The state Education Minister Partha Chatterjee has said the government has decided to abolish the no-detention policy after the Centre amended the Right To Education (RTE) Act earlier this year.
Several states including Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have already announced to abolish the policy.
Chatterjee, however, said they will help students with coaching classes and re-examination if they fail to pass the annual examinations. He said that the government will ensure that students do not lose a year and that he/she is provided with another change in two months to clear the examination.
The scrapping of the no-detention policy was one of the key demands of the teachers in the state, media reports said.
Like teachers in other states, a section of the teaching fraternity in Bengal was vehemently opposed to the no-detention policy, contending that it will compromise with education standards.
The no-detention policy came into existence in 2009-10 with the implementation of the RTE Act. However, three years down the line, murmurs began to grow about scrapping it. A committee set up by the then Haryana Education Minister Geeta Bukkal had recommended re-introduction of examinations in primary and upper primary classes.