Classes 7-9 get one-time relief on languages rule

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Monday announced a one-time relaxation for students currently in classes 9, 8, and 7 from the three-language policy which was hastily announced through a circular dated May 15.

- Sanjay Maurya

The circular caused consternation among students of the three classes who had opted for two non-native languages because it mandated that they study three languages, of which at least two have to be "native Indian languages".

The circular was unexpected and came barely six weeks after CBSE unveiled a revised scheme of studies on April 2 envisaging phased implementation of the three-language formula starting from Class 6 in 2026-27, with full roll-out to Class 10 by 2030-31. To be sure, this is in keeping with the three-language policy as laid out in National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

It wasn’t immediately clear why CBSE rushed through the implementation after initially choosing not to.

HT reached out to CBSE officials for a comment but didn’t received a response at the time of going to print.

“We have introduced a three-language formula in line with NEP 2020 and National Curriculum Framework-School Education (NCF-SE) 2023 which asks students to study three languages with two at least being native to India. As we are in the transition period for implementation of three-language policy, we have given some relaxations to Class 7 to 9 students, while gradually implementing the policy in full-fledged manner from Class 6 onwards from this academic year 2026-27,” said a senior education ministry official, requesting anonymity.