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The Supreme Court of the country has taken a very important and sensitive stand regarding the proposed ‘Three-Language Formula’ from Class 6 in schools affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) across the country. While hearing the provision of mandatory addition of third language in the curriculum of students under the National Education Policy (NEP), the Supreme Court has suggested to the Central Board of Secondary Education that instead of immediately implementing this system from Class 6, it should seriously consider postponing it for now. The eyes of lakhs of students, their parents and teachers studying in CBSE schools run in all the states of the country including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow, Noida), Maharashtra (Mumbai), Bihar (Patna), Rajasthan (Jaipur) and Karnataka (Bengaluru) are fixed on this court comment and the upcoming decision of the board. The Court believes that putting academic pressure on students of such a young age in three languages simultaneously can affect their mental development and the smooth process of learning.
During the hearing, the division bench of the Supreme Court expressed deep concern over the fact that young children of 10 to 11 years of age, who leave primary classes and enter the secondary level i.e. class 6, already have a heavy burden of subjects like mathematics, science and social sciences. In such a situation, if they are forced to have a third compulsory language apart from the mother tongue or regional language and English, then the students will be left entangled in the grammar of the languages and the stress of passing the examination.
Commenting, the bench said that the basic objective of education should be to promote the eagerness to learn and creativity in children and not to stress them by increasing the weight of their bags and the number of subjects. The court asked CBSE whether this formula can be started from higher classes (like class 8 or 9) or is it possible to implement it gradually, so that students can choose the new language as per their interest without any mental stress.
Senior advocates and legal representatives appearing on behalf of CBSE showed a positive attitude towards this suggestion of the Supreme Court. The board’s counsel assured the bench that the concerns and suggestions expressed by the court have been taken extremely seriously. CBSE representatives informed the court that the Board will discuss the issue in a high-level meeting with the Union Ministry of Education, National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and the competent authorities and educationists of its governing body. The Board clarified that giving priority to the overall interest of the students and stress-free learning environment, a well-considered policy decision in this regard will be taken soon and the court will be informed about its progress in the next hearing.
The three-language formula under the National Education Policy was conceived with the aim of promoting Indian languages and encouraging multilingual knowledge. Under this, school students are proposed to learn three languages, out of which at least two languages should be Indian languages in origin. In Hindi speaking states, the plan was to teach one of the modern Indian languages (especially South Indian languages like Tamil, Telugu, Kannada or Malayalam or Sanskrit) as a third language along with Hindi and English. Whereas in non-Hindi speaking states, the option of Hindi or any other Indian language was to be given along with regional language and English.
The controversy deepened when several educationists, parents’ associations and NGOs approached the court arguing that it was impractical to impose it without adequate availability of teachers at the Class 6 level. There is an acute shortage of qualified and trained teachers to teach South Indian languages or other regional languages in most of the schools in the country, ultimately creating undue pressure on students to memorize Sanskrit or any other language just to pass the examination.
This suggestion of the Supreme Court has been openly welcomed by parents’ associations across the country. The Parents Association says that in today’s era when children are already burdened with coding, project work and preliminary preparations for various competitive exams, it was becoming difficult for them to bear the stress of yet another language exam and homework. Many parents argue that language should be taught as a hobby and medium of communication, and not as a compulsory exam subject.
On the other hand, some linguists and cultural organizations believe that childhood is the most favorable period for learning new languages and if the three language formula is taught in the right teaching methodology and through play, it can prove to be helpful in enhancing the intellectual abilities of children. However, now all eyes are on the upcoming high-level meeting of CBSE and Union Education Ministry, where it will be decided whether class 6 students get relief from the pressure of third language in this new academic session or not.