As per the current education system in India, all the students up till Class 8 was to be automatically promoted to the next class. No one was to be failed as per the Right to Education Act (RTE). This was known as the No-Detention Policy.  But the cabinet on 14 August approved scrapping the no-detention policy in schools till class 8. 

The provision to that effect will be made in the Right of Children for Free and Compulsory Education Amendment Bill (RTE) which will allow states to detain students in class 5 and class 8 if they fail to clear their final exam.

The students, however, will be given a second chance to improve through another examination in May or June before they are detained.

Under the RTE Act provision, the students would have automatically got promoted to higher classes till class 8. This was one of the key components of the RTE Act, which came into force on April 1, 2010. The bill will now be tabled in Parliament for approval.

The Union Cabinet, which had deferred its decision in June, about the creation of 20 world-class institutions in the country was also approved on 14 August. 

The University Grants Commission (UGC)  in February had passed a new set of regulations to set up 10 world-class institutions in the public sector and as many in the private sector. Out of the 20 universities, first proposed in this year’s budget, the 10 state-supported institutions are expected to receive public funding of up to Rs 500 crore each.

HRD’s separate rules UGC (Declaration of Government Educational Institutions as World Class Institutions) guidelines allow these institutes to fix their own fees for foreign students and decide salaries for foreign faculties, as well as the freedom to choose admission procedures.

Existing universities don’t have such freedom and are guided by the detailed UGC rules.