Removing ‘No Detention’ policy would promote better education!

Removing ‘No Detention’ policy would promote better education!

The new HRD ministry Prakash Jadhav has initiated a discussion regarding scrapping the old policy that called for no detention or failing of students still class VII. Many states have earlier shown their disagreement regarding this policy and have constantly been pleading for a review.

According to the ‘No Detention’ Policy, no student can be failed or made to repeat the same class till he is in the seventh standard. It was done with the view that detaining students in junior school made them give up themselves and start believing that it is not in them to be good at studies. They are bullied and made to feel embarrassed which leads to serious discouragement. However, states have complained that the quality of education has certainly deteriorated after implementing this policy.

For

1. No fear of repeating class: Children, in all their innocence, are unaware or inconsiderate of the fact that education is for their benefit and without it, they won’t have a future. Having to by-heart the mathematical tables have never been something they would do out of fun. It is always the fear of their friends moving on the next class while they stay behind with juniors is what gets them going.

2. Incompetence: Even if a child is not competent and is not able to perform simple sums of a junior class, he is still promoted to the next class. What was done to make him improve? What makes you think that a child who is still facing difficulty figuring out nouns and verbs will be able to write an essay on his own in the next class?

3. Seriously lagging behind: Examinations are there for a reason. It is not just meant to award the brilliant students but also to analyze where the poor performing students are lagging behind. It is to test if they are capable of moving forward or whether they need to work more on the same thing before trying their hands at harder stuffs.

4. Level of learning: All the states that have reviewed and complained against the no detention system are of the view that the level of learning has definitely gone down after the policy. Neither are teachers so worried that poor performance of students would show badly on the report card and nor are parents that worried about their child failing and having to repeat a session.

5. Sudden burden: Promoting students to the next level without having their old doubts cleared increases their burden all of a sudden. When they are not able to solve simple mathematical sums, a sudden introduction to the harder ones usually leaves them clueless. They wouldn’t be able to catch up if they are not working very hard.

Against

1. Judging: A ten years old can’t be judged on his swiftness at solving multiplication sums and ease of writing long essays. Their brain is still evolving and imbibing the everyday thoughts that come and pass. There is so much that there is to childhood than just academic learning. A child this young cannot be pressurized to study harder and achieve good grades for the sake of passing a class to go on to the next level.

2. Embarrassing: Children are too innocent to understand that criticism is for good. They take it to their heart when they are told that they are dumb and cannot do well in life. They are excluded from social circle of popular kids and taunted by everyone to be a class repeater. While their old friends go to the next class, they are left behind to face the some new classmates who are not so willing to be friends with the failed one.

3. School drop outs: Dropping out of school was largely found to be related to class detention. When a student fails in the same class once or twice, they lose hope of trying again, facing the bullies and embarrassing judgmental attitude of students and teachers and hence drop out of school. Some parents also give up on their child when they are detained in the same class.

4. Jeopardizing their future: Psychology can attest to the fact that so much stress and embarrassing situations can lead to a number of complications later in a child’s life. He grows up aggressive or too reserved. Just for the sake of their future, it should be reviewed thoroughly before doing away with the no detention policy.

The policy has always remained controversial ever since its implantation. There are have always been people who thought that it wasn’t a good idea to keep children in the oblivion about what could their future be like if they don’t work hard on studies. It was argued that not detaining them makes them carefree and oblivious. However, the policy does have its cons for they are found to be deteriorating the learning process of children. We can only hope that the policy is thoroughly reviewed before taking any decision on doing away with it completely.