Former Maharashtra minister Dr Fauzia Khan on Tuesday filed a plea in the Supreme Court challenging a CBSE policy that makes the study of three languages compulsory for Class 9 students from July 1, including at least two native Indian languages.
The petition, filed by the educationist challenges the CBSE’s May 15 circular, calling it arbitrary and unreasonable.
“The impugned circular acknowledges this teacher shortage in its own text, yet proceeds to mandate compliance. The result is that the only practical purpose served by the impugned circular, in the southern States, is the compulsory introduction of Hindi, and in the northern states, the compulsory introduction of Sanskrit, without any stated educational rationale,” the plea said while seeking intervention in the main matter.
Khan, who belongs to the NCP-SCP party, argued that compelling non-Hindi speaking states to introduce Hindi or Sanskrit runs contrary to the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The Supreme Court had, on May 27, issued notice on a separate plea challenging the CBSE’s three-language policy.
Under a recent CBSE circular, students of Class 9 will be required to study three languages, R1, R2 and R3, from July 1, with at least two being native Indian languages.
The move is part of the board’s effort to align its curriculum with the NEP 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) 2023.
“In order to adequately address the competencies envisaged at the secondary stage, these textbooks will be supplemented with one appropriate local or state literary material, selected by schools, such as short stories, poems, or nonfiction works,” the board said.
It added that detailed guidelines regarding the selection and pedagogical use of supplementary literary material would be issued by June 15.
According to the May 15 circular, students opting for a foreign language can choose it only as a third language after studying two native Indian languages, or as an additional fourth language.
“With effect from July 1, 2026, for Class IX, the study of three languages (R1, R2, R3) shall be compulsory, with at least two languages being native Indian languages,” the circular said.
The CBSE clarified that until dedicated R3 textbooks are introduced, Class 9 students will use the 2026–27 edition of Class 6 R3 textbooks for the selected language.
The board also said no board examination will be conducted for R3 at the Class 10 level to ease academic pressure.
“All assessments for R3 shall be entirely school-based and internal. The performance of students in R3 will be duly reflected in the CBSE certificate. It is clarified that no student will be barred from appearing in the Class X Board Examinations due to R3. Sample question papers, rubrics for internal assessment will be shared by the board shortly,” it added.
Schools have also been directed to update their R3 language offerings for Classes 6 to 9 on the OASIS portal by June 30.
