The Supreme Court on Tuesday (July 14, 2026) questioned the categorising of English as a “non-native language” by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in the three-language scheme, teaming the tongue spoken in India for over 300 years and used for official communication in at least five States with others like German, Spanish, Arabic, and French.
“Can India consider English as an indigenous Indian language,” Justice Joymalya Bagchi, part of a three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, asked.
The latest circular issued by the CBSE on July 10 differentiates between ‘Bharatiya Bhashas’ like Hindi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, etc. from the ‘non-native’ languages. The three-language scheme, which is under dispute, requires Class 9 students to study at least two languages “native to India”.
Justice Bagchi said the term ‘native’ used by the CBSE was loaded with colonial meaning.
“What does this word ‘native’ mean? Can it be understood as indigenous Indian language,” Justice Bagchi asked.
The judge pointed out that neither the Constitution nor the statute books use the term ‘native’. It was either ‘mother tongue’, ‘regional language’ or ‘Indian language’.
Justice Bagchi, however, said the push for the three-language scheme may be in the spirit of the Constitutional goal to use Indian languages for official purposes throughout the country.
Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for parents and students, said neither books nor teachers were available in schools. Out of the 22 Scheduled languages, books were available only for three though the three-language scheme came into force from July 1.
The senior counsel said teaching 22 languages in CBSE schools would mean 22 teachers more, with one for each language.
“This is true as all 22 languages should be made available to students… This creates a complete impossibility of human resources for schools in the country,” Mr. Sankaranarayanan said.
The court issued notice in his petition highlighting the impact of the three-language scheme on children in Classes 5 and 6, and listed the next hearing on July 22.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for parents and students of Class 9, said it was far too much to expect students to take up a new language, be proficient and appear for exams. He too focussed on the human resource crunch staring at schools. “Which teacher can teach 22 languages,” Mr. Rohatgi asked.
Senior advocate Shyam Divan, also for Class 9 students, said the scheme was originally meant for 2030, but was advanced to 2026-2027.
In an affidavit filed on July 13, the CBSE has acknowledged the possibility of a resource crunch in the implementation of the three-language scheme, but said retired teachers and “suitably qualified postgraduates” could pitch in.
The CBSE considered this as a “very practical and enabling approach” to address the availability of teachers and learning resources for implementation of the language policy.
“Recognising that schools may require time to build full teaching capacity in different Bhartiya Bhashas, the Board has permitted flexible staffing arrangements as an interim measure… It has been suggested that schools may, as an interim measure, engage 25-26 existing teachers with functional proficiency, retired teachers and suitably qualified post-graduates, and may use Sahodaya clusters and virtual/hybrid teaching,” it said.
The Board reasoned that out of the 28,848 schools sponsoring Class 9 candidates, 47.3% already offer two or more native Indian languages and were fully compliant without the need for any additional teachers. The CBSE said that 99.9% of schools already have at least one Indian language teacher.
In a separate affidavit, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) said it has already undertaken the preparation, review, vetting, finalisation and dissemination of textbooks in 22 Scheduled languages as part of the implementation of the three-language formula. Learning material in R3 languages for Class 9 has already been brought out for Hindi, Sanskrit, Marathi and Urdu and uploaded on the NCERT website. Learning material for the remaining Scheduled languages would be out by the end of July 2026, it said.
The CBSE has described the three-language policy as a crucial part of the National Education Policy, 2020, and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education, 2023, to “promote multilingualism and the power of language in teaching and learning”. The Centre’s separate affidavit agreed with the CBSE that the three-language policy served “legitimate public objectives”.
Published – July 14, 2026 08:15 pm IST
