CHENNAI: Students of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) schools will be studying three languages up to Class X and two languages in higher secondary classes, if the recommendations of a high-level committee of the Union Human Resource Development Ministry are approved.
In a recent report, the committee stated that the three-language formula would encourage students to study Sanskrit as one of the optional languages and hence more students would be taking up higher education studies in Sanskrit.
Currently, many of the Central Board schools offer only two language subjects and it is the discretion of the respective schools to offer a third language.
Calling it an ‘irony’, a committee member told Express, “The three-language formula was adopted only till Class VIII in these schools and students learn two languages in Class IX-X and one language in Class XI and XII.”
The report criticised the three National Boards — CBSE, ICSE and NIOS — directly under the government of India, for not implementing the three-language formula effectively. The report goes on to state that State Board schools too had started following this trend of teaching only English and the regional language at the cost of the mother tongue, even Hindi or Sanskrit, in Hindi-speaking states.
It strongly recommended implementation of the three-language formula in Secondary Schools and two-language formula in Higher Secondary Schools in CBSE, ICSE, NIOS schools, including Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas.
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However, experts opine that the Three-language Formula would burden the school students since they would have to clear three language papers in the board exams.
“There isn’t going to be any real benefit for the students. Adding one more subject would only increase their exam-related stress, particularly for Class X students in non-Hindi speaking States like Tamil Nadu and Puducherry,” said Prince Gajendra Babu, an educationalist.
He added that the choice of studying a third language should be left to the student and the present move was not the right way to popularise a language.
On the other hand, parents have welcomed the move. “I never got an opportunity to work outside the State as I never had a chance to learn a third language. If my daughter can learn an additional language, it will help her in future,” said A Deepak, parent of a CBSE school student.
The idea of making three languages compulsory for the students is not new. It was first devised in 1961 in the Chief Minister’s conference and was enunciated in the 1968 National Policy Resolution. Under the policy, mother tongue or regional language will be the first language. In non-Hindi speaking States, the second language will be English or Hindi. In Hindi-speaking States, it will English or any modern Indian language.
The third language, would be English, any modern Indian language or foreign languages like French or German.
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