The Supreme Court on Thursday again asked the Central government to consider giving class 6 students an option to opt out of the CBSE’s three-language policy for the current academic year.
The Court said that the suggestion is being made in the interest of the comfort of students and families, rather than it being a comment on the policy’s validity.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymlaya Bagchi and V Mohana was hearing petitions challenging the Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) three-language policy.
This policy, introduced from the ongoing 2026-2027 academic year, requires students to study 3 languages from class 6 to class 9, with at least 2 being Indian languages.
The Court today suggested that relaxations that are already being considered for students of the current batch of classes 7 to 10 could be extended to the present class 6 batch as well. This suggestion was made in an earlier hearing of the matter as well.
“So far as the logistics of a child and a family are concerned, when the notification comes, it already exists, right? So it’s just bringing that surprise on that whole batch of students. You can start from January 2027…Please reconsider. (This) is not on a point of law… (but) on a point of comfort … If you can make it optional now, from January (2027), whoever comes into Class 6, it will be mandatory,” Justice Bagchi said today.
Justice Bagchi clarified that the Court was not standing in the way of the policy and would decide the core legal issues concerning the policy at the final hearing, including questions over which languages would qualify as indigenous languages.
However, he suggested that the current class 6 students could be given an option to continue under the existing arrangement and the new 3-language policy could become mandatory for students entering Class 6 from 2027 onwards.
The Court further noted that the 3-language policy had been envisaged in 2020, but was implemented only in the early months of 2026. Therefore, beginning its mandatory application for students entering class 6 from 2027 would allow families and schools time to adjust, it pointed out.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati agreed to take the suggestion back to the Centre for reconsideration.
She informed the Court that certain forms of relaxation are already being extended to students of other classes. She assured the Court that the Centre will examine if some relaxation can be given to the current batch of class 6 students as well.
“Permit me to take it back once for reconsideration…We can tweak the kind of relaxation. For example, class 10 has got a different relaxation, class 9 has got different, class 8 and class 7 have separate relaxations. Slight tweaking is there…Allow us to come back,” she said.
The matter will be heard next on September 23.
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