New Delhi, Sept 28: The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to consider extending to the current Class 6 students the exemption from the three-language framework already granted to students of Class 7.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre and CBSE, to consider granting Class 6 students the same relaxation.
The court posted the matter for hearing after six weeks and directed the CBSE to file its reply affidavit within four weeks. The petitioners may file their rejoinder within two weeks thereafter.
The court’s direction came after the Centre told the bench that nearly 99 per cent of CBSE-affiliated schools had adopted the third-language policy and had the necessary facilities, while around 1.2 per cent were yet to implement it.
On September 17, the apex court had asked the CBSE to consider implementing its three-language policy for Class 6 students from the next academic session beginning in 2027.
Under the CBSE’s June 29 clarification, students currently in Classes 7, 8 and 9 would not have to appear for a CBSE Board examination in the third language when they reach Class 10.
The CBSE had said students in the current Classes 7 and 8 batches who had already opted for two non-native languages would have to study one additional Indian language and continue with it until the Class 10 assessment. However, the third language would be assessed through an internal school-based examination, with no CBSE Board examination in the subject.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Justice Joymalya Bagchi suggested that implementation for students already in Class 6 could be deferred to give schools additional time to arrange qualified teachers, textbooks and other resources.
He described the proposed accommodation as a “soft launch”, allowing the framework to be implemented fully from 2027 after schools had adequate infrastructure in place.
The Solicitor General, however, said the Centre was not inclined to exempt the current Class 6 batch and maintained that the policy could be implemented from the current academic year.
He said the government had examined the issue in detail and that the latest figures covered around 28,000 CBSE-affiliated schools, with only about 1.2 per cent facing implementation-related difficulties.
The Chief Justice suggested setting up a committee of senior officials to engage directly with schools and petitioners facing difficulties.
Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for the petitioners, opposed the proposal for another committee and said the issue required a clear decision.
He argued that the dispute was not merely about introducing a third language but also about changing students’ language choices after they had already spent several years studying a particular language.
Citing the example of Delhi Public School, he said some students who had been studying Spanish since Class 4 were shifted to Sanskrit under the new framework.
The dispute stems from the CBSE’s decision to align its scheme of studies with the National Education Policy, 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education, 2023.
Under the framework, students are required to study three languages, at least two of which must be Indian or “Bhartiya Bhashas”.
The CBSE has listed Hindi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, Odia and Assamese among the Indian languages, while English, French, German, Arabic and Spanish are categorised as non-native languages.
