CBSE Class 6 Students Get Major Relief: Check Supreme Court’s Latest Order

The Supreme Court has directed the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the Centre to extend the exemption from the mandatory three-language policy to current Class 6 students.

The order allows the Class 6 students the same relaxation as provided to students of Classes 7, 8, and 9, and exempts them from taking the CBSE Board examination in the third language when they move to Class 10.

The Supreme Court has postponed the implementation of the compulsory framework for this group of students till the academic session starting from April 2027.

What Did the Supreme Court Say on the Three-Language Policy?

As per the CBSE notification on June 29, those students who are currently studying in Classes 7, 8 and 9 do not need to give the third language Board examination in Class 10.

The bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana instructed both the Centre and CBSE to provide the same relaxation to Class 6 students as well.

This was ordered by the court after the submission was made by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati appearing for the Centre and CBSE.

It is to be noted that the bench mentioned that almost 99% of schools have opted for the third language scheme whereas 1.2% of schools have not done so. Thus, it is instructed that Class 6 students must also be provided the same relaxation as Class 7 students.

The matter has been placed for listing after 6 weeks. CBSE needs to file its reply affidavit within 4 weeks followed by a rejoinder, if any, within 2 weeks.

Update for Current Class 7 and Class 8 Students

The CBSE had previously announced that all the present batch of Class 7 and 8 students who have chosen two foreign languages and started studying them will have to learn one more "Bharatiya Bhasha" and keep on learning it till their Class 10 evaluation.

Round 3 will be evaluated through the internal school based evaluation system and there is no need of appearing for CBSE Board's R3 examination in Class 10.

The SC has now asked the CBSE to provide this facility to Class 6 students also.

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