(LiveMint)
The Union government is reviewing the possibility of reverting to the no-fail policy for the skills sector, even as it is withdrawing a similar provision in schools by amending the Right To Education (RTE) Act. Skills development and entrepreneurship minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Wednesday that he is not in favour of detaining any students at the 14,000 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs). The ITI system caters to around 2 million students, who form a significant portion of the trained manpower employed by Indian industries.
“We were reviewing the system on Tuesday. My suggestion was that nobody should fail. Yes, somebody can get Grade A or Grade E but no one should fail. It demotivates people,” Pradhan said at a conference of his ministry in New Delhi on Wednesday. The no-fail policy has been a topic of debate in India after the implementation of the RTE Act in 2010. Several committees, including one comprising state education ministers, have spoken against the policy.
The human resource development (HRD) ministry has also favoured bringing back examinations to schools, arguing that the policy of not detaining any student has hampered the teaching-learning environment in schools. The RTE amendment bill pending in Parliament aims to give states the right to choose whether or not to bring back examinations to schools.
