Kolkata: CM Suvendu Adhikari said on Sunday he personally favoured restoring the pass-fail system in state schools, but clarified that any decision would be guided by National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the recommendations of Bengal’s syllabus committee.The syllabus committee, which was reconstituted after BJP came to office in the state, supports reintroduction of the pass-fail system in schools and will formally take up the matter in a meeting after the festive season, sources said.The erstwhile Left Front govt had in 2010 adopted a no-detention policy till Class 8 in line with the right to education act, which came into the effect the previous year. NEP provides for academically weak students in Classes 5 and 8 to repeat a year, but the policy was not implemented in Bengal when Trinamool Congress was in office.Adhikari told reporters in East Midnapore’s Ramnagar, “We have started the process of introducing NEP in Bengal. There will be a lot of changes in the education system starting next academic year. Personally, I want mobile phones to be banned in schools and the pass-fail system to return. The history of India and West Bengal should be taught alongside modern subjects.”He, however, made it clear the govt would abide by “the syllabus committee’s recommendations” and a decision would be taken after consulting the ministers concerned.Syllabus committee chairperson Debashis Chatterjee said, “We have called a meeting to discuss these matters. I do feel proper screening is very important, but we need to discuss the modalities before reintroducing detention at the school level.”Tarunkanti Naskar, member of All India Save Education Committee, said the pass-fail system needs to be reintroduced right from Class 1. “Students are struggling to learn reading, writing and arithmetic. The pass-fail system has to be restored to improve the academic standard. Both central and state govts are only issuing statements, instead of implementing the policy. We demand that RTE Act be amended to bring back the detention policy,” he said.However, Sabir Ahamed, a researcher associated with Pratichi Trust, said, “The govt should upgrade school infrastructure, fill vacant teaching posts and create an environment conducive to joyful learning rather than adopt measures that could increase the dropout rate.”While abolishing the pass-fail system in 2010, the Left Front govt had argued that the move would eliminate the social stigma and mental pressure associated with failing an exam and help create a more enjoyable learning environment.The Trinamool govt had in 2019 initiated discussions on bringing back the detention policy, but it did not materialise. Instead, the Mamata Banerjee administration introduced a Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation system featuring three summative exams and an assessment of holistic development through a comprehensive report card. Critics, however, say that despite these efforts, students’ progress remained below par.Ritwick Mallick, a member of the previous syllabus committee, said, “We couldn’t implement the pass-fail system because many schools manipulated marks.”Partha Pratim Baidya, headmaster of Jadavpur Vidyapith, favours reintroduction of the detention policy. “I have seen how much difficulty senior students face. But by then it’s too late to bridge the learning gap. A certain level of motivation is required for students to move to the next grade. They have to learn to deal with pressure from the school level.”A recent Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) shows that nearly 30% of students at the high school-level struggle with basic reading, comprehension and independent thinking. It also highlighted that students in Classes 9 and 10 in state-run schools have foundational gaps in solving problems.The CM also called for banning mobile phones and reintroduction of Bratachari, NSS and NCC in schools. While stressing the need for including lessons in nationalism in the curricula right from the primary level, Adhikari said elements such as “bedbugs”, “cockroaches”, “dimagi Naxals” and “tukde-tukde gangs” were attempting to harm the country.
