2 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Jun 29, 2026 01:28 PM IST
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has released detailed implementation guidelines for the three-language policy in its affiliated schools, effective from the academic session 2026–27. Issued in alignment with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the circular brings clarity on how Indian languages will be taught across classes while ensuring that no student currently in the system is caught off guard by an abrupt change.
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The idea of the three-language policy is that a student should study at least two languages, one of which must be Bhartiya Bhashas (native Indian languages). These include Hindi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, Odia, Assamese, and others listed in the Indian Constitution’s Eighth Schedule.
A non-native language — such as English, French, German, Arabic, or Spanish — may be opted for as the third language (R3), but only if the other two are already Bhartiya Bhashas. For instance, a student cannot study, say, English and French and call it done; there should be at least one additional Indian language.
For the current batches studying in class 7, 8 and 9 would not be required to give board examination in third language when they progress to Class 10. However, those who had already taken two foreign languages would continue with the same with one additional native Indian Language.