Abstract
The ratification of the Convention of the Rights of the Child by India in 1992 obligated her towards developing legislation and interpreting laws in harmony with the convention in a child-centred manner to protect the best interests of the child. With the reading of right to education as a part of Right to Life under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution by the Supreme Court, followed by the insertion of Article 21A by the Parliament that guaranteed the right to free and compulsory education to children from the age of six to fourteen, there was a need to introduce a legislation to give effect to this Fundamental Right. As a consequence, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 was enacted, which, inter alia, introduced a provision for ‘no-detention’ policy which provided that no child would be held back in any class until the completion of their elementary education. Anchored in constructivist pedagogical principles, it sought to replace fear-based, examination-driven schooling with continuous evaluation and academic support. However, this provision was scrapped in 2019, allowing respective states to bring ‘detention’ policies in elementary classes. In this paper, we argue that the scrapping of the no-detention policy marks a retreat from a child-centred approach to learning underpinning India’s right to education shaped by international frameworks, constitutional protections and the legislative intent of the RTE Act.
Recommended Citation
Roy, Debargha and Sahoo, Sarthak
(2026)
"HOW WE FAILED OUR CHILDREN BY FAILING THEM: A LEGAL ANALYSIS OF SCRAPPING OF NO-DETENTION POLICY IN INDIA,"
National Law School of India Review: Vol. 37:
Iss.
1, Article 2.
Available at:
https://repository.nls.ac.in/nlsir/vol37/iss1/2
