Legal Challenge To New Education Mandate
The Supreme Court of India on Tuesday issued notices to the Union Government, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), and the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) seeking their responses to two new petitions challenging the compulsory three-language curriculum for Class 9 students.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, and Justice V Mohana directed the authorities to file their replies within 10 days. The court has scheduled the next hearing on the matter for July 29.
Concerns Over Teacher Shortages And Textbook Deficits
The fresh legal challenges, filed by petitioners Amandeep Kaur and Arpan Roy Choudhury, argue that the educational authorities are implementing unlawful circulars that violate the Right to Education (RTE) Act. Representing the petitioners, senior advocate Anand Grover contended that languages are being imposed on students without viable alternatives, raising concerns about the availability of qualified teachers to support the curriculum.
Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan highlighted immediate logistical hurdles, stating that although one state mandated all language textbooks be available by July 1, books for only three of the twenty-two languages have actually been released. He further pointed out that the policy creates a critical manpower issue due to a lack of trained educators, noting that English is now being classified as a non-native language under the framework.
Adding to these arguments, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing petitioner Yashica Bhandari Jain, questioned the feasibility of suddenly requiring a 14-year-old Class 9 student accustomed to studying English and French to learn a language like Tamil, pointing to a lack of infrastructure and teaching staff.
Implementation Timeline And Transitional Measures
The legal dispute stems from a CBSE circular issued on May 15, which made the study of three languages—including at least two native Indian languages—compulsory for Class 9 students starting July 1, 2026. The policy is designed to align secondary education with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) 2023.
Under these guidelines, students who wish to study a foreign language may only select it as a third language after choosing two native Indian languages, or opt for it as an additional fourth language. To ease the academic transition and reduce student pressure, the board announced that there would be no board examinations for the third language at the Class 10 level.
Furthermore, the CBSE stated that until dedicated textbooks for the third language are published, Class 9 students must use the Class 6 textbooks of the 2026-27 edition. The board had also planned to issue guidelines by June 15 regarding supplementary state or local literary materials, which schools are expected to select to support student competencies.
Prior to these new petitions, the Supreme Court had directed Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati to submit a report assessing the CBSE’s logistical preparedness to implement the new language mandate across schools.
