The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) announced three-language policy for classes 9 and 10. As per the rule, students will now be required to pick three languages, with two of them being native Indian languages and one foreign language. This policy is now attracting criticism from opposition parties who are slamming the national education board for taking a “U-Turn”.
Indian National Congress (INC) spokesperson Jairam Ramesh has questioned the CBSE on the “background of this decision”.
“In December 2025, CBSE’s Governing Body held its semi-annual meeting. In this meeting, the Governing Body specifically and explicitly approved the recommendation of its curriculum committee, which stated that until NCERT releases graded textbooks for languages, CBSE should continue with its existing study arrangements, “particularly with regard to language-related provisions.” The signatures of the then-CBSE Chairman and Secretary—who have since been transferred—were also on this decision,” Jairam Ramesh stated in his tweet.
However, in May 2026, CBSE issued a circular directing schools to add a third language to the curriculum for classes 9 and 10 starting from July 1, 2026. “Not only that, CBSE instructed schools to use NCERT’s class 6 books to teach the third language to class 9 students,” Jairam stated.
He further questioned the board on the timeline of implementation of the three-language policy. “So, what changed in these six months? NCERT has still not released any textbook for the third language for classes 9 and 10. The very decision that the signing Chairman and Secretary of CBSE were still in their positions for was effectively overturned by CBSE, even though it had been approved by its own Governing Body. So why did CBSE take this U-turn, and on whose orders?”
He alleged that the agenda behind implementation of the policy seems political. “There is no educational rationale behind this decision. It is sowing chaos in the academic calendar and schools’ planning systems, and affecting the academic future of millions of students. Here, the agenda clearly appears to be political. It is evident that the Ministry of Education and its autonomous body like CBSE operate not on the advice of education experts, but according to the political whims and agenda of the Modi government,” he claimed.
Reiterating his previous demands, Jairam Ramesh once again demanded resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, rather than transfers of CBSE officials. “But when it comes to fixing accountability, officials like the CBSE Chairperson and Secretary are transferred, while their political masters sitting in the Prime Minister’s Cabinet are shielded. Minister Pradhan, who has presented himself as a political hack devoid of both integrity and any respect for educational expertise, should resign,” he tweeted.