Former Maharashtra minister and educationist Dr Fauzia Khan has moved the Supreme Court against the Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) decision to make the study of three languages compulsory for Class 9 students from 1 July 2026.

In her plea, Khan argued that the CBSE’s 15 May circular is arbitrary and unreasonable. She contended that despite acknowledging a shortage of language teachers, the policy effectively compels schools in southern states to introduce Hindi and those in northern states to introduce Sanskrit without a clear educational rationale.

Khan, who is associated with the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar), also submitted that requiring non-Hindi-speaking states to introduce Hindi or Sanskrit is inconsistent with the provisions of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

The Supreme Court had earlier, on 27 May, issued notice on a separate petition challenging the same CBSE policy.

Under the revised framework, Class 9 students must study three languages, with at least two being native Indian languages. The measure forms part of the CBSE’s alignment with NEP 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) 2023.

The board has clarified that students may choose a foreign language only as a third language after studying two Indian languages, or as an additional fourth language. It has also stated that there will be no Class 10 board examination for the third language, with assessment remaining entirely school-based and reflected in the CBSE certificate.

Schools have been directed to update their third-language offerings for Classes 6 to 9 on the OASIS portal by 30 June.

Inputs from PTI

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