Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has decided to reintroduce the ‘pass-fail system’ for Class-V and VIII students by amending the Odisha Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Rules, 2010.
The School and Mass Education (S&ME) Department issued a notification in this regard on Wednesday.
According to the notification, the amended rules—called the Odisha Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Rules, 2025— will come into force with immediate effect following their publication in the Odisha Gazette.
Regular examinations will be conducted for Classes V and VIII at the end of each academic year under these rules. If a student fails the examination, they must take a re-examination within two months from the result declaration date. If the student fails to fulfil the promotion criteria again, they will be held back in Class V or Class VIII. However, no student will be expelled from school before completing elementary education, the department added.
The notification has come almost seven months after the Centre amended the Right of Children and Free School Education Act 2010 (RTE Act 2010), allowing states to hold regular exams for the students of these classes and hold them back if they fail.
It was 2019 that the then BJD government, which had adopted a no-detention policy in schools at elementary level, had first hinted at reintroducing ‘pass-fail system’ for Class V and VIII students amid concerns over worsening quality of education at secondary and higher secondary level.
