Supreme Court Suggests Introducing Third Language from Class VI Instead of Class IX

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has observed that introducing a third language at the Class IX level may place unnecessary academic pressure on students preparing for board examinations. Hearing a matter related to the implementation of the three-language policy, a Bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and R. Mahadevan suggested that if a third language is to be taught, it should ideally begin from Class VI rather than Class IX. The Court also clarified that the three-language policy does not make Hindi compulsory and only requires students to learn their state language, English, and one additional language. The observations came during the hearing of petitions linked to the implementation of the policy in Tamil Nadu.