SC to hear PIL against CBSE’s 3-language policy | India News
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a PIL challenging the validity of a PIL by parents and teachers from NCR and Chennai. CBSEIts recent policy mandated three languages, two of which must be Indian for class 9, saying it would lead to chaos and confusion.For the urgent hearing of the PIL, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi told a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Jayamalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi that suddenly, Class 9 students are being made to study two more languages compulsorily. “How will students cope with this and appear in the language paper test? It will create chaos and confusion among students and teachers,” Rohatgi said.The CJI-led bench assured that it will hear the plea next week. The petition, jointly filed by 17 parents and two teachers of children studying in Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon and Chennai through advocate Shraddha Deshmukh, claimed that the new policy, contrary to CBSE’s April 9 notification, clearly affirmed that the third language “is not applicable up to level 9-20 of the academic session-2020”.However, after the commencement of the academic session for May 15, 2026-27 and finalization of language allocation and time table, switching to three languages, two of which must be Indian, will cause irreparable loss to thousands of Class 9 students and will take away the livelihood of many teachers who can teach foreign languages as they appeal to teachers to teach foreign languages. It added that unavailability of textbooks and teaching material has exacerbated problems faced by students and teachers and CBSE is making ad hoc arrangements asking students to learn the basics of second Indian languages from Class 6 textbooks. “Mandatory of a compulsory subject without textbooks, trained teachers or an assessment framework does not amount to quality education; it is a constitutional violation,” the petitioners said, pleading. Sc To prevent CBSE from compromising quality education.
