SC to hear next week plea against CBSE policy making 3-language study compulsory in Class 9
The petitioners have sought quashing of the May 15 CBSE circular on three-language policy and restoration of the position declared in the Board’s April 9 notification deferring compulsory implementation of the three-language for Class IX until 2029-30
A PIL in the Supreme Court has challenged the three-language policy of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) that made it compulsory for Class IX students to study three languages, including two native Indian languages, from July 1.
A three-judge Bench, led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, on Friday agreed to take up the matter next week after senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi mentioned the petition filed by Yashica Bhandari Jain and others for urgent listing.
“This is an urgent PIL. The petitioners are students, teachers and parents. They are challenging the new policy of the CBSE by which in the 9th standard, two more languages have been made compulsory,” Rohatgi said, requesting the Bench to take it up on Monday.
Noting that next week will be a miscellaneous week, the CJI said the matter would be listed.
“How can they suddenly learn it and appear in Class X? It will create chaos,” Rohatgi told the Bench which also included Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul M Pancholi.
The petitioners have sought quashing of the May 15 CBSE circular on three-language policy and restoration of the position declared in the Board’s April 9 notification deferring compulsory implementation of the three-language for Class IX until 2029-30.
They have demanded an interim protection against enforcement of the revised policy for existing students.
In its May 15 circular, the CBSE made the study of three languages, including at least two native Indian languages, compulsory for Class IX students beginning July 1.
The decision is in tune with the National Education Policy 2020 which emphasises multilingualism and the “three-language formula”, encouraging students to learn multiple languages, including at least two Indian languages, with flexibility left to states and schools to choose the languages.
CBSE students typically studied two languages — English and Hindi or a regional language up to Class X. However, the May 15 circular requires students beginning Class 9 to study an additional language, increasing the number of languages studied at the secondary level.
Terming it an arbitrary decision, the petitioners submitted that schools, students and parents had planned their academic year relying on that representation, and that the sudden change with barely weeks before implementation has caused widespread uncertainty and disruption.
