The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the CBSE to consider implementing its policy mandating the study of three languages, including two native Indian languages, for Class 6 students from the next academic session starting 2027.
Out of the three languages, at least two would be Bhartiya Bhashas. Examples of Bhartiya Bhashas: Hindi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, Odia, Assamese, etc. Earlier, the Centre and the CBSE told the Bench that they were working on its suggestions on implementing the policy mandating the study of three languages, including two native Indian languages, for Class 6 students. On May 27, the top court agreed to examine a plea challenging the policy and issued notices to the Centre, the CBSE and the NCERT seeking their responses. The study of three languages, including at least two native Indian languages, has been made compulsory for Class 9 students beginning July 1, according to a circular issued by the CBSE. “Every student in Class 9 would study three languages.
Justice Bagchi, at the outset, said that just to comfort the children, the CBSE should consider deferring the implementation of the three-language policy from the next academic year. The law officer said that the CBSE would consider the suggestion and come back with a fresh note on the issue. The Bench said its suggestions were without prejudice to the rights and contentions of the parties and the real issues may be decided later. Examples of non-native languages: English, French, German, Arabic, Spanish, etc.,” the CBSE had said in its statement.
