CBSE’s three-language policy, set to begin from Class 6 in 2026-27, is being pitched as a step towards multilingual learning.
But on the ground, it is triggering a far more immediate and uncomfortable question: if two Indian languages become compulsory, where do French, Spanish and German go, and what happens to the teachers who have been teaching them for years?
The policy requires students to study three languages, with at least two being Indian. Schools have also been told to begin implementation quickly, even as textbooks and clarity on assessment are still evolving.
In that gap between policy and practice, schools are already making choices, and those choices seem to be coming at the cost of foreign languages.
As Delhi-based CBSE Spanish teacher Akhilesh Chauhan (name changed for anonymity) puts it, “They have discontinued French, German and other foreign languages from classes, and are offering only Sanskrit.”
But who will teach the new native language in schools?
“There is no planning. There is nothing of that sort,” says Chauhan.
He adds that schools may try to manage by redistributing workload, for example, asking Hindi teachers to also handle Sanskrit, but questioning whether that is sustainable at scale.
The impact of CBSE’s new three-language rule isn’t just academic but has a profound professional impact on thousands of teachers in CBSE schools across India.
“If this current policy actually stands, then two to three years down the line, they might lose their job,” says Gokul Nandan, a Spanish teacher at an IB school, referring to foreign-language teachers.
Those are not small concerns. They go to the centre of how this policy will actually play out in classrooms.
WHAT HAPPENS TO FOREIGN LANGUAGES?
On paper, foreign languages are still allowed within CBSE’s framework.
But the structure makes them difficult to sustain. With two Indian languages required, schools are left with limited flexibility to continue English alongside a foreign language in the way they did earlier.
Chauhan explains it simply: if a school teaches two Indian languages and offers a choice for a third foreign language, they would definitely choose English as it is the medium of communication for most schools, meaning opting for any other foreign language like French would become difficult.
The result is already visible. Schools are dropping foreign-language options or reducing them to non-core activities.
Even where foreign languages are not fully removed, they are being pushed to the margins.
“Some schools are offering it as a club or an activity,” Chauhan says. “That is like a once in a week kind of thing.” That shift changes the subject from a serious academic option to an add-on.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHERS?
This is where the impact is the sharpest. If foreign languages move out of the core curriculum, the need for full-time teachers also drops.
Chauhan says the change is already being planned in phases.
“Within the next two to three years, all foreign language teachers in CBSE schools lose their jobs,” he says, explaining that schools are not removing teachers immediately but gradually phasing out subjects class by class.
Nandan echoes this concern but adds another layer to it.
“The current teachers who are teaching in CBSE schools might lose their job,” he says, but also points out that the impact will not stop at schools.
“It’s not a battle of only school teachers, but of the entire language teaching community, including those at the university level,” he says.
That is because many students who study foreign languages at the undergraduate or postgraduate level go on to become school teachers. If CBSE schools stop hiring, that entire pipeline is affected.
Nandan also notes that not everyone trained in foreign languages wants to work in multinational companies. “Everyone doesn’t like to go to the MNCs for work, so the schools are a major employment space,” adding if that space shrinks, the consequences go beyond a single policy change.
WILL THE THIRD LANGUAGE BE EXAMINED?
Another layer of confusion is assessment. Schools have been asked to begin teaching the third language even before official textbooks are available, using local materials in the meantime.
On exams, Chauhan says the third language will not carry the same weight as the first two. “They will have to appear only for R1 and R2. R3 will only be internally marked,” he says.
This creates a contradiction – if a language is made compulsory but not equally assessed, it could affect how seriously students and schools treat it, especially when academic pressure builds in higher classes.
“Schools are not taking the three-language policy so seriously right now. There is no material to teach from, no official CBSE books and, moreover, there are very few teachers to teach a large numbers of students,” says Ankit Agrawal, a CBSE teacher from Lucknow.
He adds that currently teachers are relying on YouTube videos, related available online books etc. He also adds that teachers are preparing notes and worksheets for the students, but he is unsure of how long they can proceed like this.
WILL CHILDREN STILL LEARN FRENCH OR SPANISH?
Some students will continue to learn foreign languages, but access is likely to become uneven.
Schools in metro cities may still offer them in limited formats, like a hobby class, weekly class or as a skill enhancement course, while many others may drop them entirely due to staffing and timetable constraints.
Nandan argues that the policy could have worked differently. “If the R3 category can be open to another Indian language or foreign language very clearly,” he says, “then probably the students can also study a foreign language.”
Right now, that flexibility is not clear enough in practice. And without that clarity, schools are choosing the safer route, Indian languages that fit the mandate.
ARE THERE ENOUGH TEACHERS AND BOOKS?
The rollout has also exposed gaps in preparation. Schools have been expected to start within days, but teachers, textbooks and training are not fully in place.
The numbers make the concern sharper. “Technically, you would end up needing around a lakh teachers,” Chauhan says, referring to the scale required if thousands of schools introduce a new language at once.
Nandan raises a different concern: purpose. “If we don’t have any purpose, then what is the point of learning another language?” he says, questioning whether making a third Indian language compulsory is the only way to achieve the policy’s goals.
In its current form, the CBSE three-language policy is not just expanding language learning. It is reshaping it. Foreign languages are not being openly removed, but they are being pushed into smaller spaces.
And for the teachers who built those classrooms, that shift could decide whether their subject, and their job, still exists in the years ahead.
