More than one lakh students in Class IX and over 50,000 in Class XI of Delhi government schools failed their annual exams in the 2023-24 academic session. Additionally, over 46,000 Class VIII students did not pass. This information was provided by the Delhi Directorate of Education (DDE) in response to a PTI Bhasha correspondent’s Right to Information (RTI) application.

Delhi has 1,050 government schools and 37 Dr. BR Ambedkar Schools of Specialised Excellence. According to the data, 1,01,331 Class IX students failed in 2023-24, compared to 88,409 in 2022-23, 28,531 in 2021-22, and 31,540 in 2020-21. In Class XI, 51,914 students failed in 2023-24, 54,755 in 2022-23, 7,246 in 2021-22, and 2,169 in 2020-21.

Following the cancellation of the ‘no-detention policy’ under the Right to Education, 46,622 Class VIII students failed in 2023-24. An official from the Delhi Education Department, speaking anonymously to PTI-Bhasha, explained that under the new ‘Promotion Policy’ of the Delhi government, students from Class V to VIII who fail their annual exams will not be promoted to the next class. However, they will have a chance to improve their performance through a re-examination within two months. To pass the re-examination, students need to score at least 25 percent in each subject. If they fail, they will be placed in the ‘repeat category’ and must remain in the same class until the next session.

This significant number of failures has raised concerns about the quality of education and the effectiveness of teaching methods in Delhi government schools. Education experts and policymakers are calling for urgent measures to address these issues, including better teacher training, enhanced learning resources, and more robust support systems for struggling students. The government is expected to take steps to improve the overall education framework to prevent such high failure rates in the future.

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