AGARTALA, Dec 27 � Tripura Government on Tuesday decided to go ahead with the no-detention policy up to class VIII standard as per the Right to Education Act (RTE) even as it expressed strong reservations on several provisions of the Act.
The decision has been taken in the meeting of Council of Ministers held here today after a brain- storming session on the Act. With the decision, about eight lakh students studying from Nursery level to VIII standard in government and government-aided schools could not be held up.
Confirming this to media, School Education Minister Tapan Chakraborty said, the State Government has serious reservations on several provision of the Central Act but that the State�s hands are tied. �In fact, the State Government has decided to implement the no-detention policy up to VIIIth standard to avoid legal complication as provisioned in the Right to Education Act�, he said. He, however, voiced concern over the possible deterioration in the quality of education.
Chakraborty made it clear that the government would focus on Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) at the school level fffthat quality of education doesn�t fall from the coming academic session.
Admitting there are shortcomings in conducting CCE in the schools as per the guideline under the Act, he said �There is a huge dearth of trained teaching staff besides infrastructure and monetary resources. The government has already sent a report to the Ministry of Human Resource Development mentioning the State�s reservations�.
As present 13,000 teachers of the 43,000 are yet to get mandatory two-year training in teaching � BEd or MEd. �It will be tough for the government to get all untrained teaching staff into full-fledged BEd course within a short period of time�, he said.
Banamali Sinha, Principal Secretary, Education, however, lamented over the low turn out in government schools. Latest reports say only 60 per cent turn-out of students is reported during the year in spite of free distribution of books, uniform and mid-day meal.
