Can’t English be considered an indigenous Indian language, asks SC
The Supreme Court on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, questioned the classification of English as a “non-native language” by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in its trilingual programme, which has been spoken in India for over 300 years and is combined with other languages such as German, Spanish, Arabic and French for official communication in at least five states.
Justice Joymalya Bagchi, who was on the three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, asked, “Can India treat English as an indigenous Indian language?” he asked.
The latest circular issued by CBSE on July 10 has been published in Hindi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi etc. He distinguishes between ‘Bharatiya Bhashas’ and ‘non-native’ languages such as. The controversial trilingual plan requires Grade 9 students to learn at least two “Indian” languages.
Justice Bagchi said the term ‘indigenous’ used by CBSE was laden with colonialist connotations.
Justice Bagchi asked, “What does this word ‘native’ mean? Can it be understood as indigenous Indian language?” he asked.
The judge noted that the term ‘native’ is not used in either the Constitution or the statute books. It was either ‘mother tongue’, ‘regional language’ or ‘Hindi language’.
Justice Bagchi, however, said the push for the trilingual program could be in the spirit of the Constitutional objective of using Indian languages for official purposes across the country.
Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, who met for parents and students, said there were neither books nor teachers in schools. Books were available for only three of the planned 22 languages, but the trilingual plan went into effect from July 1.
The senior consultant said teaching 22 languages in CBSE schools would mean 22 more teachers, one for each language.
“This is true as all 22 languages need to be made available to students… This makes human resources for schools in the country completely impossible,” Mr. Sankaranarayanan said.
In its petition, the court issued an announcement highlighting the impact of trilingual education on children in 5th and 6th grades and scheduled the next hearing for July 22.
Speaking for Class 9 parents and students, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi said it was too much to expect students to learn a new language, become proficient and appear for exams. He also focused on the human resources shortage in schools. Mr. Rohatgi asked, “Which teacher can teach 22 languages?” he asked.
Shyam Divan, also senior advocate for Class 9 students, said the plan was initially conceived for 2030 but was advanced to 2026-2027.
In an affidavit filed on July 13, CBSE acknowledged the possibility of resource crunch in implementing the trilingual programme, but said retired teachers and “suitably qualified postgraduate students” could come into play.
CBSE deemed it a “very practical and enabling approach” to the availability of teachers and learning resources for the implementation of the language policy.
“Recognizing that schools may need time to build full teaching capacity across different Bhartiya Bhashas, the Board has permitted flexible staffing arrangements as an interim measure… As an interim measure, it has been suggested that schools can engage 25-26 existing teachers with functional qualifications, retired teachers and suitably qualified postgraduate students and can use Sahodaya clusters and virtual/blended teaching,” he said.
The board noted that of the 28,848 schools sponsoring Class 9 candidates, 47.3% already offered two or more native Indian languages and were fully compliant without the need for any additional teachers. CBSE said 99.9% of schools already have at least one Hindi language teacher.
In a separate statement, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) said it has already undertaken the preparation, review, review, finalization and distribution of textbooks in 22 Scheduled languages as part of the implementation of the trilingual formula. Learning material in R3 languages for Class 9 has already been prepared for Hindi, Sanskrit, Marathi and Urdu and uploaded on the NCERT website. It was stated that learning materials for the remaining Scheduled languages will be released by the end of July 2026.
CBSE has identified the tri-language policy as an important part of the National Education Policy (2020) and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (2023) to “promote multilingualism and the power of language in teaching and learning”. The Centre’s separate statement agreed with CBSE that the tri-language policy serves “legitimate public objectives”.
It was published – 14 July 2026 08:15 IST
