Education

The observation came while hearing an appeal filed by the Tamil Nadu government challenging a Madras High Court order related to the establishment of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas. A bench comprising Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice R Mahadevan advised the state government that a policy should not be opposed merely because it is a central government initiative.

The Supreme Court has already heard a separate case regarding the implementation of the CBSE’s third language policy. While the court refused to put an interim stay on the policy, it observed that the approach could help promote the growth of Hindi and other Indian languages while also recognising constitutional rights. However, the court said certain aspects, including the naming of the third language and whether English can be considered an Indian language, may require further consideration.

During Friday’s hearing, Justice Nagarathna referred to concerns raised by the Tamil Nadu government regarding the possibility of promoting Hindi through the language policy. She clarified that the policy does not specifically mention Hindi and allows students to learn any language under the framework of the National Education Policy.

Questioning the timing of introducing a new language in Class 9, the judge pointed out that students begin preparing for the pressure of Class 10 examinations from earlier years. She suggested that starting the third language from Class 6 would give students more time to understand and learn the subject without additional stress.

Sharing her own school experience, Justice Nagarathna mentioned learning Kannada, Hindi and another language during her academic years, highlighting that an earlier start could make language learning easier for students.

The Supreme Court will hear further arguments from both the Centre and state governments on this matter during the next hearing scheduled for August 11.