A new Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) mandate requiring Class 9 and 10 students to studythree languages has drawn criticism from Opposition leaders.
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The new framework makes it mandatory for students to study three languages, R1, R2 and R3, with at least two of them required to be national. The third language will be internally assessed by schools and not through the class 10 board examination.
This decision has led to sharp reactions, particularly from Tamil Nadu, where opposition to the three-language formula has a long political history.
‘No question of a 3-language formula’
DMK leader TKS Elangovan said Tamil Nadu would not accept any change to its long-standing two-language system. “They cannot change the system followed in Tamil Nadu. They may introduce it anywhere but not in Tamil Nadu. We have a system which we are strictly following, and there is no question of a three-language formula in Tamil Nadu,” he told PTI in Chennai.
Tamil Nadu has historically opposed the three-language formula, saying that it places an unfair burden on non-Hindi-speaking states and undermines regional linguistic identity. The state has followed a two-language policy, Tamil and English, for decades.
Congress leader Surendra Rajput criticised the Centre for introducing the change without consultation. “All new measures are implemented through dialogue in a democracy. Since the BJP came to power, the process of dialogue in democracy has been brought to an end. An autocratic system has been imposed,” Rajput told PTI.
He alleged that decisions were increasingly being taken unilaterally without discussions in Parliament or consultations with the public, MPs or education stakeholders.
“In a democracy, the participation of all stakeholders is essential in such decisions. Neither the public was consulted, nor was there any discussion in Parliament or with MPs. Decisions taken without discussion can prove to be dangerous. We will study the matter in detail, and only after that will we issue a detailed statement,” he added.
The policy change has also already begun affecting schools in some regions.
In April,CBSE schools in Puducherry reportedly dropped French from the 2026-27 curriculum. This was because the revised three-language framework permitted only one foreign language slot, which in most schools was occupied by English.
Puducherry DMK women’s wing convenor Tr Gayathri Srikanth questioned the impact of this on students and teachers. “If French is removed from CBSE schools under the 3-language policy, who is responsible for students who studied French from Classes 1 to 5 and now face discontinuity? Who is responsible for private school French teachers facing job loss?” she wrote on X.
Under the revised structure,students can choose Indian languages such as Hindi, Sanskrit, Bengali, Assamese, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Gujarati, Odia, Punjabi and Urdu as their third language. Foreign languages including French, German, Spanish, Japanese and Russian can be studied only if students are already learning two Indian languages.
CBSE has said the changes are aimed at implementing the NEP 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) 2023 more effectively and encouraging students to study Indian languages alongside English.
The board has clarified that students will not be barred from appearing in the Class 10 board examinations based on their performance in the third language.
