Class 5 and 8 students in the state will have to appear for their final exams from this academic year (2019-20). The exams will be conducted by the Gujarat Council of Educational Research and Training (GCERT) and the students who fail to clear these exams will be retained to the same class. Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama announced that the notification for the same as per the amendment to the Right to Education Act. The state has however provided provisions to ensure that students who fail their exams in these two classes will be given another opportunity within two months to appear for the exams again. If students fail to clear the second attempt too, then they will be declared failed and will be detained. The notification further states that if a student changes his school after failing in any of these two tests, then he can be given admission in the new school to the same class in which he was detained. Age will not be considered as the criteria in deciding admission to a class for such students. The notification also clarifies that primary students cannot be hold back in any class except for their failure to clear the exams in class 5 and 8. Schools will also not be able to remove primary students from school until they clear their primary classes. The amendments are applicable to all government, grant-in-aid and private schools in the state. Apparently, the Central government in January this year had amended the Right to Education Act and empowered states to hold back students in class 5 and 8. After the RTE Act was introduced in April 2010, students could not be detained from class 1 to 8 irrespective of their performance or learning. Several states, including Gujarat had sought a detention policy so as to help evaluate learning of the students. Post amendment to the Act, several activists who worked for RTE had criticised the detention policy being introduced stating that it was a reflection of the 'exam obsessed' mindset of the administration.

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