Delhi-NCR schools allegedly flout RTE Act; students detained in Classes 6 and 7 , claim education activists and parents

Several top Delhi-NCR schools allegedly held back pupils in Classes 6 and 7 in contravention of the Right to Education Act of 2009, according to education campaigners and parents. The Ministry of Education's Department of School Education and Literacy notified guidelines on 'Examination and Holding Back in Certain Cases' in December 2024, after the 2019 amendment to the Right to Education (RTE) Act 2009.

"The amended rules allow schools to detain students in Classes 5 and 8, but only after providing them with an additional opportunity for re-examination within two months of the declaration of results," solicitor and education campaigner Ashok Aggarwal told PTI.

"Before the modification, there was no detention policy until Class 8. However, the government revised the Act to include a provision for detention in the fifth and eighth grades. However, many private schools violate the Act by forcing their rules to parents. Several parents complained because schools required their children to either take a school leaving certificate or repeat the class in sixth or seventh grade.