The Supreme Court on Thursday cautioned the Central government against introducing a third language at the Class 9 level under the CBSE curriculum, warning that it would place unnecessary academic pressure on students.
A division bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and R. Mahadevan suggested that any additional language should instead be introduced earlier, specifically in Class 5 or Class 6, to give students adequate time to adjust. Addressing the counsel representing the Union of India, the bench highlighted that academic pressure begins escalating as early as Class 8, making Class 9 an unsuitable stage to implement a new language requirement. The court instructed the counsel to convey its concerns to the Central government.
These verbal observations were made during a Supreme Court hearing on an appeal filed by the Tamil Nadu government.
State Opposition To Three-Language Policy
The Tamil Nadu government is currently contesting a Madras High Court directive that mandated the state to facilitate the establishment of centrally run Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) across all of its districts. The state has maintained a long-standing opposition to the setup of JNVs due to the three-language curriculum followed by these schools.
Although the bench was not directly adjudicating the merits of the CBSE’s language policy during this specific hearing, it chose to address the timeline of introducing additional language courses to protect student welfare.
