Third language score of Class IX not relevant for Class X boards

NEW DELHI: The Delhi administration has withdrawn a provision in its revised class IX examination and promotion policy that produced students ineligible to appear for the class X board papers if they failed to qualify in the third language (R3) opted for.

Key points

• The CBSE had introduced a three-language policy in May under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) 2023.
• The provision has now been withdrawn, with the CBSE's guidelines on R3 set to prevail, according to a corrigendum issued on Tuesday.
• Under the CBSE guidelines, R3 is assessed entirely through school-based internal evaluation with no need for a separate class X board exam for the third language.
• The revised system additionally introduced vocational education as a compulsory subject for class IX students.

Earlier, the Directorate of Education had remarked that class IX students who failed to qualify in R3 could still be promoted to the next class if they met the other promotion criteria, but must clear the subject while studying in class X to be eligible for the board exams.

Notably, the provision has now been withdrawn, with the CBSE's guidelines on R3 set to prevail, according to a corrigendum issued on Tuesday. An official remarked the provision was withdrawn as of confusion over the interpretation of the earlier order.

Meanwhile, the CBSE had introduced a three-language policy in May under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) 2023. The policy that requires class IX and X students to study three languages, at least two of which must be Indian languages, came into effect on July 1.

Under the CBSE guidelines, R3 is assessed entirely through school-based internal evaluation with no need for a separate class X board exam for the third language. While R3 marks will appear on the final CBSE certificate, its score will have no bearing on a student's eligibility to appear in the class X board. The Delhi Education Department's revised class IX exam and promotion policy, issued earlier this week, had created the third language compulsory.

For context, the revised system additionally introduced vocational education as a compulsory subject for class IX students.

Taken together, the developments around third language score of Class IX not relevant for Class X boards point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.