Under the scanner after 150 of its 300 students from class 9 failed in their final exams, Antonio DeSouza School in Byculla is now the subject of an inquiry which began on Friday.

School principal Father Denzil Fernandes blamed the Right to Education (RTE) Act for nearly 50% of the students failing the exam.

He added that the school did not offer remedial classes to weak students since they were not interested in studying.

The inquiry is being conducted by the education department (south zone). Father Fernandes said that the poor performance is a direct result of the “no-fail policy till class 8” under the RTE Act. “Students did not study well till class 8 since they were assured of promotion. But such students could not cope with the syllabus of class 9. Even parents were not taking any interest in their children’s performance,” he said.

However, the RTE also prescribes that schools conduct remedial classes to help weak students in every class. These classes are to be held after school hours and help bring weak students up to speed with the curriculum.

“How can we hold remedial classes when students and parents themselves are not interested?” asked Fernandes. He added that schools did not fail students deliberately to achieve 100% SSC results as there is nothing exceptional to be gained from perfect SSC scores.

“It’s not like the government gives any recognition or award for such an achievement. We did not fail students to bag a perfect score,’’ he said.