 the right of children to free and compulsory education (second amendment) bill,  2017 a billfurther to amend the right of children to free and compulsory education act, 2009be it enacted by parliament in the sixty-eighth year of the republic of india as follows:—short title and commencement1 (1) this act may be called the right of children to free and compulsory education(second amendment) act, 20175 (2)  it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, appoint35 of 20092 in the right of children to free and compulsory education act, 2009 (hereinafterreferred to as the principal act), for section 16, the following section shall be substituted, namely:—substitution of new section for section 16"16 (1) there shall be a regular examination in the fifth class and in the eighthclass at the end of every academic year10examination and holding back in certain cases(2) if a child fails in the examination referred to in sub-section (1), he shall begiven additional instruction and granted opportunity for re-examination within a period of two months from the date of declaration of the result(3) the appropriate government may allow schools to hold back a child in the fifth class or in the eighth class or in both classes, in such manner and subject to such conditions as may be prescribed, if he fails in the re-examination referred to in sub-section (2):5provided that the appropriate government may decide not to hold back a child in any class till the completion of elementary education(4) no child shall be expelled from a school till the completion of elementary education"amendment of section 383 in section 38 of the principal act, in sub-section (2), after clause (f), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:—10"(fa) the manner and the conditions subject to which a child may be held back under sub-section (3) of section 16;" statement of objects and reasonsthe right of children to free and compulsory education act, 2009 (the act) provide for free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years2 section 16 of the act provides that no child admitted in a school shall be held back in any class or expelled from school till the completion of elementary education this provision was made in the said act because examinations are often used for eliminating children who obtain poor marks, which compels children either to repeat the same grade or leave the school altogether it was felt that compelling a child to repeat a class is both de-motivating and discouraging3 in recent years, states and union territories have been raising the issue of adverse effect on the learning levels of children as section 16 does not allow holding back of children in any class till the completion of elementary education therefore, in order to improve the learning outcomes in the elementary classes and after wide deliberations with all the stakeholders, it is proposed to substitute section 16 so as to empower the appropriate government to take a decision as to whether to hold back a child in the fifth class or in the eighth class or in both classes, or not to hold back a child in any class, till the completion of elementary education4 the bill seeks to achieve the above objectivesnew delhi;prakash  javadekarthe 8th  august, 2017 memorandum  regarding  delegated  legislationclause 2 of the bill seeks to substitute a new section for section 16 of the right of children to free and compulsory education act, 2009, relating to prohibition of holding back and expulsion sub-section (3) of the proposed section 16 seeks to empower the appropriate government to make rules to provide for the manner and the conditions subject to which a child may be held back in the fifth class or in the eighth class or in both classes if he fails in the re-examination2 the matters in respect of which the rules may be made are matters of procedure and administrative detail, and as such, it is not practicable to provide for them in the proposed bill itself the delegation of legislative power is, therefore, of a normal character annexureextract from the right of children to free and compulsory education act, 2009(35 of 2009)16 no child admitted in a school shall be held back in any class or expelled from school till the completion of elementary educationprohibition of holding back and expulsion———— a billfurther to amend the right of children to free and compulsory education act, 2009————(shri prakash javadekar, minister of human resource development)