(a) whether the Government has received memoranda from 11 Stakeholders in response to
suggestions on the Right to Education Bill, 2017 sought by the Parliamentary Committee;
(b) if so, the details thereof; and
(c) the response of the Government thereon?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
(SHRI UPENDRA KUSHWAHA)
(a) to (c) : As per the Report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource
Development, the Committee held extensive deliberations on the Right of Children to Free and
Compulsory Education (RTE) (Second Amendment) Bill, 2017 with various stakeholders including
the Department of School Education and Literacy, representatives of the State Governments of
Assam, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Mizoram and Manipur, representatives of Delhi Commission for
Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR), PRS Legislative Research, Right to Education Forum, Care
India, Pratham Education Foundation, Director NCERT, Chairperson, CBSE, Chairperson, NCPCR,
Vice Chancellor, NIEPA, Chairman, NIOS and Shri Radhey Shyam Gora, Advocate, Supreme Court
of India. The Committee noted the response of the Department that Section 16 of the RTE Act was
not allowing the States/UTs to detain a child in any class upto eighth standard and automatic
promotion upto eighth standard was resulting in a huge bottleneck in class ten, where a large number
of students were failing in the examination. As the quality of education and learning outcomes of the
students were both going down, an enabling clause has been proposed in the RTE Act providing a
window to States/UTs to hold regular examinations in the fifth and eighth classes at the end of every
academic year and empowering the appropriate Government to take a decision as to whether to hold
back a child in the fifth class or in the eighth class or in both classes, or not to hold back a child in
any class, till the completion of elementary education.
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