Third language should be introduced in Class 6, not Class 9, says Supreme Court on CBSE policy

The Supreme Court on Thursday verbally observed that the Central Board of Secondary Education’s mandatory three-language policy should be introduced from Class 6 instead of Class 9, Bar and Bench reported.

This came after the board said in a May 15 circular that studying three languages would be mandatory for Class 9 students from July 1. Among the three languages, at least two must be Indian.

On Thursday, the court remarked that introducing a third language in Class 9 would be stressful for the students.

A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and R Mahadevan was hearing the Tamil Nadu government’s plea challenging a Madras High Court judgement that had directed it to set up Navodaya Vidyalayas in every district, Bar and Bench reported.

During the hearing, the topic of the three-language policy in Central Board of Secondary Education’s schools came up.

“Third language should stop in Class 9, not start in Class 9,” The Hindu quoted Nagarathna as saying.

The pressure of the Class 10 board exams starts as early as Class 8, she said.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court refused to stay the three-language policy for the 2026-’27 academic year, saying that “learning a language never goes to waste”, The Times of India reported.

The petitioners had contended that the policy being implemented in the middle of an academic session would impose additional burden on students and disrupt their preparation for the Class 10 board exams.

They also argued that several schools lack trained teachers, textbooks and the infrastructure to implement the policy effectively.

The bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana had issued notice on the petitions, the newspaper reported. The matter will be heard further on July 22.

CBSE’s three-language policy

Class 9 students will need to study three languages of which two must be Indian. Those who currently have two Indian languages can either take up a foreign language or a third Indian language.

Class 9 students who currently have one Indian and one non-native language can choose any Indian language as the third language. Those who are currently studying two foreign languages have been given a “special one-time relaxation” under which they can add an Indian language as the third one.

There will be no board exams for the third language for the current batch of Class 9 students, and there will instead be an internal school-based assessment.

Class 7 and Class 8 students who have already chosen two foreign languages can continue studying them. However, the students will have to study an additional Indian language till Class 10. The CBSE said that the third language for these batches will also be assessed by the school through an internal evaluation.

The three-language policy will apply in full to the batch of students currently in Class 6, who will not be given a transitional relaxation.

Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.