PANJIM: Of the 29,566 students that appeared for the Class IX exam in 2015-16, 9,729 failed as compared to 9,522 in the previous academic year 2014-15. Parents have blamed the no detention policy (NDP) for the disastrous results.
Since introducing the NDP, although dropout rates have reduced, ironically there has been a steady increase in the number of students detained in Class IX. District Information System for Education (DISE) statistics show a marginal rise in the number of students failing in Class IX.
“If a student is week in a particular subject, the teacher must try and bring the student to that level, practically this is not done. A lot of them feel that NDP means that students should just not be held back and be promoted to Class IX but this is not the case. Students should be trained. When students are not trained properly, they find it difficult to cope with the subjects and the portion. The syllabus increases and that burden is felt in Class IX,” said an official from the Education Department.
“If a student fails in Class V, he is discouraged and feels he will never be able to pass further and this policy has helped bring down this pressure. When this policy was not there students used to fail in Class VI, VII or VIII but now due to this policy all these students fail in Class IX and so the huge number appears shocking. The Central government should modify the policy. On the other had these students who fail go to open schools and later come back to Class XI thus increasing the number there,” he said.
But parents blame the NDP stating that the policy has hampered learning levels and that students do not take assessments seriously. “No detention policy in India has shaken the foundation of all students. Primary and secondary students have been relieved of the burden of studying and clearing the exams and when they reach Class IX they do not have a strong base. I think the system should be reversed to the old pass or fail,” said a parent.
However, GBSHSE Chairperson, Jose Rebello said, “Statistics show that more students are going in for HSSC and that is a good sign. The beauty of RTE is that even though students are held back or failed in Class IX, they somehow finish their HSSC. Even the pass percentage has increased from 85.54 percent in 2014 to 88.1 percent in 2015 to 90.1 percent in 2016.”
Former Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar had made a strong pitch to scrap the NDP and had suggested reintroducing regular exams for students to improve their academic performance. “The existing system of promoting students by default to higher classes has affected the overall quality of education and students. Therefore, regular exams should be reintroduced to ensure learning outcomes are achieved,” he had said.
