Consensus eludes detention system

Hyderabad: The proposal to put into effect the detention in the school education by the Union Human Resource Development Ministry has evoked mixed reaction from the teacher community. Barring two teacher unions, all the unions have rejected the proposal to restore detention system.

During a meeting with Commissioner of School Education T Chiranjeevulu at Sarva Siksha Abhiyan here on Tuesday, majority of the teacher unions said the detention system would lead to increasing in the number of drop-outs. It may be worth mentioning here that during a meet on the national education policy similar set of views were presented by the District Educational Officers.

However, teacher unions like Progressive Recognised Teachers’ Union TS and SC, ST Upadhyaya Sangham said without detention system, quality of education, especially in the government-run schools, cannot be maintained. Speaking to the Hans India, Telangana State United Teachers Federation (TSUTF) General Secretary Chava Ravi said the detention system would not only result in number of children dropping out of school but also giving scope for malpractices in the private schools.

Telangana State Teachers Union, President Raj Reddy said detention system in the school was unconstitutional and it was not in tune with the Right to Education (RTE) Act. He further said current system needed to be strengthened and “continuous and comprehensive evaluation system” can be effectively implemented.

Contradicting STU stand, PRTU President P Venkat Reddy said parents had lost faith in the government-run schools. He further said unless detention system was implemented, standard of school education cannot be improved.“Several students do not even know how to write or read though they were promoted to 10th class.