The Odisha government has introduced a fail system for classes 5 and 8 annual examinations, starting from the current academic year. To implement this decision, the government has amended the Odisha Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2010. According to the new system, regular examinations will be held at the end of each academic year for these classes.
Students who fail will receive additional instruction and have the opportunity to re-take the exam within two months of the result declaration, as per a notification from the School and Mass Education Department.
“All students of Class V and Class VIII will now have to appear for annual examinations. If a child fails in these examinations, he/she will be provided additional instruction and an opportunity for re-examination within two months of result declaration,” read the notification.
“If the child appearing in the re-examination…..fails to fulfil the promotion criteria again, he/she shall be held back in fifth class or eighth class, as the case may be,” said the notification.
The order states that no child will be expelled from school until they have completed their elementary education.
In December last year, the Government of India amended the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act of 2010 (RTE Act 2010). These amendments permit states to conduct regular exams for students in classes 5 and 8, and to retain students who do not pass. These changes were made five years after the RTE Act was last amended in 2019.
Meanwhile, The Board of Secondary Education (BSE), Odisha, on May 2, declared exam results for class 10 for the academic year 2024-25.
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This year, a total of 9,031 schools participated in the Odisha Class 10 examinations. Out of 5,12,438 registered students, 8,436 were absent, resulting in 5,04,002 students appearing for the exams. Among them, one student’s result was withheld, while 170 students were booked under the malpractice category. A total of 4,85,240 students successfully passed their Odisha Madhyma examination, bringing the overall pass percentage to 94.69%.
A total of 3,272 schools have achieved 100% results this year, meaning that every student from these institutions has successfully passed the Class 10 examination.