Some Bengaluru schools refuse to promote 'weak students to class 10

In a clear indication of learning loss due to the pandemic, some schools in Bengaluru are refusing to promote “weak” students to class 10 as they fear these pupils will affect their board exam results. They instead want parents to take transfer certificates and enrol the children elsewhere.

While classes for the 2022-23 academic year began on May 16, many children who were to attend class 10 are still struggling to clear the previous year’s exams. School authorities, teachers and experts blame the pandemic-induced learning loss.

Under the RTE Act, the no-detention policy ends at class 8. The policy stipulates that no student should be held back in any class until they complete elementary education (class 8).

But schools have the liberty to detain low-performing students after class 9. This is where the havoc wreaked by Covid-19 is coming into play. While students of classes 1-9 were promoted during the last two years due to Covid-19, schools are refusing to advance class 9 students if they didn’t perform.

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“Somehow, we had promoted these students from class 8 to 9. But promoting them to class 10 will likely impact our board exam results,” a school principal said on condition of anonymity.

The learning loss has badly affected students. According to another school principal, there is a 10% increase in the number of class 9 students who are unfit to be promoted to class 10. If such students were only 15%-20% before Covid, this percentage is now about 30, said the principal of another unaided school in Bengaluru.

“Promoting students from class 8 to 9 is no big deal but we have to think twice before promoting low performers from grade 9 to 10,” the principal affirmed.

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D Shashi Kumar, general secretary of the Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka (KAMS), agreed. “It is a big challenge for schools that aim for 100% results in class 10 exams,” he told DH.

Schools are looking at other options.

Parents of some “low-performing” students say schools are forcing them to take transfer certificates, or failing that, threaten to detain children in class 9.

“Despite repeated requests, the school is unwilling to promote my son to class 10. Detaining him in grade 9 will affect him mentally because all other students will be in the higher class,” said a parent who would not be named.

Another parent said schools were so firm that they wouldn’t agree even if parents take the responsibility of improving the children’s learning.

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Kumar, of KAMS, corroborated this, saying some schools are indeed offering TCs to low-performing students.

Gopinath R, the managing trustee of Sparsha Trust, which supports the learning continuity of children affected by Covid-19, wants the government to intervene and give students relaxation this year. “No proper teaching happened in the last two years, which made even bright students slow,” he said.

A spokesperson for St Lourdes English High School in Mathikere, which is asking parents to take TCs, said students were given a second chance to clear the class 9 exam but some failed again. “We are offering TCs but if parents are unwilling, the management will take appropriate decision,” the spokesperson added.