NEWS ANALYSIS: LET THEM PASS

By Kartik Lokhande
During my visit to Mumbai 17 years ago, I got an opportunity to interact with an elderly British couple near Gateway of India in Mumbai. Though it took a little while to convince the couple to talk to the group of students, which I was a part of, the subsequent interaction was an eye opener for us. I still remember the contents of that interaction, whenever I read about developments in Education ‘sector’.
The man, decorated with prestigious Order of the British Empire (OBE), was accompanying his affable wife studying music in India. When I asked him innocently whether every educated youth got a job in Britain, he laughed and replied, “Young man, you should ask whether every educated person in any country deserves a job. For, one may get educated, but may not be prepared for success in life.” Reading question on my face , he explained, “In our country, some places have a policy not to fail students. The youth coming out of schools at such places, do not even know correct spellings and pronunciations of English words.”
Several years later, Government of India enacted Right to Education (RTE) Act. Under the law, ‘No Detention’ or ‘No Fail’ policy was introduced for students. This meant that students will be promoted to next class till Class VIII. The then Union HRD Minister Mr Kapil Sibal aggressively justified introduction of the ‘No Fail Policy’.
Cut to 2012, within three years of introduction of the policy, several states said that the policy itself had ‘failed’. Mr Sibal and all the advocates of the policy were still in power and they continued with it despite the stiff opposition even from teachers and parents, who wished their children to have a strong foundation of education. And, now, in 2015, once again the issue has occupied centrestage during discussion on proposed National Education Policy. Again, states have expressed concern over ‘No Detention Policy’ till Class VIII.
This policy of ‘No Detention’ till Class VIII is a scar for a nation like India, which has inherited a legacy of quality education from Nalanda and Takshashila. In the first place, such a policy should not have come into existence. And, if at all, it came into existence because of minds with fanciful thinking occupying the positions of power, an overwhelming majority should have mounted pressure on the Government to get it scrapped.
Here, one needs to understand that the policy came into existence as part of the failure of Indian education system that could be attributed to policy paralysis at the level of Government especially in the past decade. For, in these years, several ‘changes’ were ushered in. The school curriculum became more westernised and less Indian. Emphasis was added more on infrastructure facilities in school instead of enhancing quality of education. Coaching classes mushroomed, became big commercial entity, and started being treated as ‘better alternative’ to school education. Obviously, when there was this much of compromise on quality of education, students started failing or scoring lesser in the existing system of examination. So, instead of focussing on hard-work of correcting the system and hurting the commerce in education ‘sector’, the Government of the time decided to go the easier way of introducing ‘No Detention Policy’.
And, what has it achieved? Instead of collective improvement in employability, skills, creativity, innovation, and quality of manpower for industry and other spheres of human life, the ‘No Detention Policy’ has laid foundation for the hazard of bringing down an entire generation to the level of mediocrity. If the policy is not scrapped immediately, the country is staring at the danger of losing excellence as a value of Indian culture. Of course, in such a situation, there will be more importance to ‘networking’ than ‘hard working’. Of course, there will be more emphasis on achieving the ‘averages’ than ‘excellence’. Of course, this will reduce India from being ‘supplier of quality manpower’ to ‘importer of manpower’.
Already, some of these things have started gaining roots. There are countless many schools, aided and unaided, with only a few excellent students to talk of. Due to ‘No Detention Policy’, many parents have started paying little attention to academic excellence of children up to Class VIII. When their wards reach this crucial stage, parents easily start searching for ‘better alternative’ of coaching classes that will take care of their children’s education till Class XII. Then, there are more coaching classes. Surveys in different states have shown, kids are unable to read or write the text of the previous class. That is why several states are demanding to do away with the ‘No Detention Policy’.
It is very surprising and shocking that in an era when the world is talking of supremacy of ‘Knowledge Society’, a country like India should continue with ‘No Detention Policy’ in founding years of a child’s academic life. Today, the world is at a stage when ‘tried and tested’ knowledge makes one a successful person. Can India with its rich demographic dividend afford to continue destroying the system that has produced world greats in many a sphere of human excellence? The answer to this question is ‘No.’
Most of the children whose parents welcome ‘No Detention Policy’ till Class VIII fail the tests of life ahead. They fail to tackle pressure. They fail when they are expected to work harder and produce results. They shy away from ‘trying it out’ for the fear of failure.
It is time India stops glossing over, at least in the field of education. Else, a devastation is waiting down the road. When we say, “Failure is the first step towards success,”, why not let the children pass, instead of promoting them? 

(Filed on March 22, 2015)