New Delhi
The Supreme Court has directed the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to grant an exemption to Class 6 students from the mandatory third-language requirement for the current academic year.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Suryakant and Justices Jaymalya and V. Mohana heard a batch of petitions challenging the implementation of CBSE’s three-language policy.
Appearing for the Centre, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted that the three-language policy should be implemented for Class 6 in the ongoing year. He said that, barring about 1.2% of CBSE schools, the rest among 28,819 schools nationwide were ready to implement the policy and that students had already chosen their languages.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati told the court that for students studying a third language in Classes 7, 8 and 9, there would be no CBSE board examination for the third language when they move to Class 10. The assessment would be conducted at the school level, without a pass/fail outcome.
The bench said it did not want to cause hardship to students and noted that similar exemptions had been provided to Class 7 students. It directed that Class 6 students also be given the same relief for this year, adding that third-language evaluation should not carry a pass/fail tag and that certificates should only indicate participation.
