Supreme Court directs CBSE to exempt Class 6 students from mandatory third language rule

The Supreme Court has directed the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to extend the third language rule exemption to Class 6 students that was granted to students in Classes 7 to 9, the Bar and Bench reported.

The direction from the apex court comes after a bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana overruled the central government’s stand against the exemption, the report said.

The government had said that around 99 per cent of schools under the CBSE were ready to implement the three-language policy, it added.

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CBSE's third-language formula

“Under the transitional framework mandated by the Court, students will continue studying the third language as part of their curriculum, but will not face a mandatory class 10 board examination in the subject, nor will their final promotion or certification be stalled on account of it,” the report read.

The direction follows a batch of petitions filed by parents and teachers challenging a CBSE-notification on May 15, 2026, it added.

The board’s circular mandated students in Classes 6 to 9 to study three languages, including at least two native Indian languages under the National Education Policy (NEP), and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education 2023 (NCF-SE), the report said.

According to the petitioners, the sudden direction reversed CBSE’s earlier circular of April 9, 2026, which had deferred the third-language requirement until 20229-30, it said.

The petitioners argued that introducing the mandate mid-stream caused acute academic disruption as there was a severe deficit of trained language teachers and textbooks, the report read.