The Supreme Court has directed the Centre and the Central Board of Secondary Education to extend to the current Class 6 students the same relaxation from the three language framework that is available to students of Classes 7, 8 and 9.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, asked the Centre and CBSE to provide Class 6 students the same relief for the current academic year. The court also indicated that implementation of the revised language requirement for this batch should begin from April 1, 2027.

The Centre had argued that nearly 99 percent of CBSE affiliated schools had already adopted the third language requirement and had the necessary facilities, while implementation difficulties affected around 1.2 percent of schools. It had opposed providing an exemption to the current Class 6 batch.

The issue arose after CBSE aligned its scheme of studies with the National Education Policy 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education 2023. Under the revised framework, students are required to study three languages, with at least two being Indian languages.

The court's direction extends the existing relaxation under which the third language is assessed internally by schools rather than through a CBSE board examination when the students reach Class 10.