The Supreme Court on Thursday (August 20, 2026) asked the Central Board of School Education (CBSE) to grant current Class 6 students a one-time reprieve from a mandatory third-language Board exam.

The court urged the Board to return to the drawing board to consider easing the policy into the curriculum, starting from earlier classes, giving students, families and schools “some elbow space”.

“Why don’t you give the Class 6 students reprieve from writing the third language exam in Class 10 exam,” Justice Joymalya Bagchi asked Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati.

Under CBSE guidelines, students in Classes 7 to 9 were exempted, while the present Class 6 batch was slated to face full implementation, including a mandatory Class 10 Board exam in the third language by 2031.

The court said the three-language scheme would eventually have to be implemented, but the CBSE has to streamline its implementation better.

“You would have to give some time for not only students but also for infrastructure to come on par, across the various education boards. It is a good policy to start with the mother tongue, then an indigenous language, and then another indigenous or foreign language. But all this should be started when the children are a little younger, in a lower class, giving them time to adapt,” Justice Bagchi said.

The court asked Ms. Bhati, appearing for the CBSE, to get instructions on three issues — whether a one-time reprieve could be given to the current batch of Class 6 students, how to build human resources to meet the demands of the three-language scheme, and whether the scheme should ideally be started in earlier classes.

Lawyers for petitioners opposing the three-language policy said it explicitly categorised English as a foreign language along with popular foreign language options among students like French, Japanese, and Spanish.

“Because the policy mandates that students must study at least two native Indian languages, students are restricted to only one foreign language slot. Since nearly all students choose English for that single slot, other foreign languages like French or Japanese are effectively pushed out of the main curriculum. A large number of students already studying French and Japanese have to choose a native language now… Another foreign language increases employment opportunities… These are children from middle- and lower-class homes we are talking about,” senior advocate Anand Grover explained.

Mr. Grover submitted that textbooks found online under the three-language scheme start with compound sentences. “If I have to learn Sanskrit, for example, I have to learn from the first alphabet. The textbooks on the website have compounded sentences. How will I learn,” he asked.

Advocate Shraddha Deshmukh, also for the petitioners, said children who have not cleared the third-language requirement at the Class 9 level would not get their passing certificate in Class 10. “Even today, the classes have not yet started, but new exam circulars have been issued already,” Ms. Deshmukh said.

Chief Justice Surya Kant said English could hardly be considered a foreign language.

“We will have to consider the extent to which English can be considered as a non-indigenous language. I personally have reservations about the use ‘native’ employed in your circulars. It has a very colonial import… If you see the historical perspective of English, and the extent to which it has grown roots in the Indian society, it would have to be seen whether English can be considered a foreign language at all,” Justice Bagchi addressed Ms. Bhati.

Ms. Bhati countered that the three-language scheme contemplated only internal assessments. Class 9 students would not be held back. She said the transition to the scheme had been “smoothened out as much as possible… There was no sudden roll-out.”

On the issue of treating English as a foreign language, the law officer said, “English is an official language under the Constitution, and though it is not treated like a foreign language, it is also not a native language. Language is the vehicle of a culture”.

Published - August 20, 2026 08:41 pm IST