The Centre intends to move an amendment to the Right to Education Act to empower States to take a final decision on whether to have exams in the fifth and eighth standards. However, the condition that no exams are to be conducted up to fourth standard is untouchable. Union Human Resources Minister Prakash Javadekar said the measure would help bring about more accountability among students and teachers. Even though transfer of this power to States would upset the uniformity brought about by the Act, there is merit in the minister’s proposal. The ideal of inspiring and encouraging students to learn instead of coercing them through exams, which was at the core of the RTE Act, has sadly, not been achieved. The system of continuous assessment works if there are sufficient teachers and the number of students per class is restricted to not more than 30. Even in Goa, the teacher-student ratio is nowhere near the ideal figure. While the RTE Act was the need of the hour it took away the powers of States to take decision (number of study hours) to suit local conditions and this eventually became a problem. The balance between Centre and State needs to be restored and the minister appears to be moving in that direction.
