Supreme Court Asks CBSE to Consider Sparing Current Class 6 Students From Three-Language Policy

The Supreme Court has asked the Central Board of Secondary Education to consider giving the current batch of Class 6 students a reprieve from its newly implemented three-language policy, in a hearing on September 9 that has turned into the sharpest judicial scrutiny yet of one of the most contested school reforms to flow from the National Education Policy 2020. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, sitting with Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana, deferred the matter to September 17 after seeking an accommodation for students already midway through the academic year, Deccan Herald reported.

According to an account of the hearing published by EduAdvice, the bench asked the board to consider providing an exemption or suitable accommodation to current Class 6 students for the ongoing session, suggesting that if Class 6 is meant to be the entry point for the new language framework, the structure could instead apply to children entering that class from the next academic year. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, assured the court that the authorities concerned would consider the suggestion and return with a response. The court has not passed a final order; its request to the board remains a suggestion, not a binding exemption.

What the policy requires

The dispute centres on the language framework the CBSE adopted for the 2026-27 session, drawing on the NEP 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education 2023. Under the structure, students study three languages, labelled R1, R2 and R3, of which at least two must be languages native to India. According to Careers360, English, where it is offered in Class 6, is treated as the single permitted foreign language alongside two mandatory Indian languages, and other foreign languages such as French or German can take that slot instead. The board has also said that students entering Class 9 from July 1, 2026 must study three languages, and Careers360 has reported that students appearing for the Class 10 board examination in 2031 are expected to be assessed in all three, with third-language assessments beginning from the 2027-28 academic year.

The CBSE has pushed back against the charge that the framework smuggles in compulsory Hindi, clarifying that Hindi is not mandatory at any particular level and that the structure provides choices within its prescribed slots.

A seven-day rollout

Much of the litigation is aimed not at multilingual education itself but at the speed of implementation. In a circular dated April 9, 2026, the CBSE directed all affiliated schools to introduce the third language, R3, for Class 6 within seven days, telling them to begin teaching immediately using locally available materials aligned with NCFSE 2023 competencies while official textbooks were still being developed. "All schools are advised to introduce R3 earnestly and without any further delay," the notice said, according to Careers360. Schools were told to record their chosen R3 language on the board's OASIS portal and notify their regional offices, with a consequential catch: only the R3 languages a school introduces in Class 6 will remain available to its students as options in Classes 9 and 10.

Petitioners before the Supreme Court have argued that this timetable imposed an undue burden on students without adequate preparatory measures, pointing to shortages of qualified language teachers, gaps in school infrastructure and the absence of textbooks across the range of language options schools are meant to offer. An analysis by Plutus IAS notes that the court's concerns centred on the sudden imposition of the requirement without preparatory groundwork and its impact on student welfare.

Tamil Nadu's resistance

The loudest political opposition has come from Tamil Nadu, which has followed a two-language formula for decades. Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has called the CBSE framework a "calculated attempt at linguistic imposition", according to Careers360. "For students in southern states, this translates into compulsory Hindi learning. But will students in northern states be required to learn Tamil, Telugu, Kannada or Malayalam?" he asked, adding: "This appears to be an ill-conceived policy announced without planning, resources or accountability." The state's school education minister, Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, has declared that Tamil Nadu will retain its two-language policy, and the state has rejected ₹3,458 crore in central incentives linked to the framework. Online, opposition has coalesced under the #StopHindiImposition hashtag, while some parents have voiced concerns about the added academic burden on children asked to pick up a third language mid-year.

What happens next

The September 17 hearing is now the immediate test of whether the board will act on the bench's suggestion. If the CBSE agrees to hold back the requirement for the current Class 6 cohort, the framework would in effect begin with children entering Class 6 in 2027-28, giving schools a year to recruit teachers, procure textbooks and settle their language offerings. If it declines, the court will have to decide whether to convert its suggestion into an order. Either way, the case has become a proxy for a larger question that has shadowed the NEP 2020 since its adoption: whether the Centre can push a uniform language architecture through India's classrooms faster than states, schools and families are willing to move.

Sources: Deccan Herald; EduAdvice; Careers360 (policy details); Careers360 (implementation circular); Careers360 (Tamil Nadu reaction); Plutus IAS.