Overview
- On Friday, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and board sources said the three-language requirement will be applied prospectively from the incoming Class 6 cohort rather than retroactively to students already in Classes 7–9.
- Students now in Classes 7, 8 and 9 who study two foreign languages are likely to be allowed to continue the same combination until they complete Class 10, subject to a formal amended order that the CBSE governing council is expected to issue.
- Officials stressed the affected group is small, noting roughly 1.3% of CBSE students (about 30,000 of ~24 lakh examinees) take two foreign languages, and said CBSE must arrange textbooks and teachers for rollout in Indian languages.
- The May 15 CBSE circular that set a July 1 implementation for Class 9 prompted protests and court petitions and the Supreme Court has refused interim relief while consolidating related challenges for further hearings.
- The change forms part of aligning CBSE with NEP 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework, and officials are still discussing operational issues including R3 textbooks in 22 Indian languages and whether a foreign language could substitute a vocational subject up to Class 10.