New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought a ‘comprehensive’ response from the Centre, CBSE and NCERT on a batch of petitions challenging CBSE’s new policy mandating three-language learning for students from Classes VII to IX. A three-judge bench headed by CJI Surya Kant sought a report from the Centre on its “logistical preparedness” to implement the policy.
Appearing for a petitioner, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi said the circular required students to study three languages from the next academic year and argued that textbooks were still unavailable.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for co-petitioners, said the matter raised significant constitutional and federal questions. He argued language was a matter of choice and could not be imposed. The bench initially proposed listing the matter on June 15. However, after a request from the Centre’s counsel, it deferred the hearing to the second week of July. The petitioners urged the court to direct CBSE not to implement the policy from July 1, when the new academic session begins. The bench, however, refused to grant interim relief. “We will see,” the chief justice remarked orally.
A petition filed by Nidhi Sharma described the policy as “arbitrary” and argued that “structurally displacing foreign languages from the mainstream three-language curriculum without any reasonable justification, or transitional safeguard, renders thousands of foreign language teachers…redundant”.
