Centre Opposes Classifying English as Native Language in Three-Language Scheme

Gist The Union government informed the Supreme Court that it opposes classifying English as an indigenous or "native" language under the curriculum's three-language scheme. Simultaneously, the Centre assured the Court it is actively considering a one-time exemption for current Class 6 students from a mandatory third-language paper in their future Central Board of Secondary Education CBSE Class 10 board examinations. Aspirants should track this development as it highlights the practical and infrastructural bottlenecks in implementing mandatory language policies, as well as the ongoing debate over the linguistic classification of English in India. Background The three-language scheme is a historical language-in-education policy that generally requires students to study their mother tongue, another modern Indian indigenous language, and a third language often English or another Indian language to promote multilingualism. Recent CBSE guidelines introduced a mandate requiring students to face full implementation of this scheme, culminating in a compulsory third-language board examination in Class 10 . Prior to the current dispute, the CBSE had exempted students in Classes 7 to 9 from this mandate. However, the current Class 6 batch was slated…