Supreme Court Judge Justice B.V. Nagarathna made an oral appeal in open court to the government, urging it not to introduce a third language (R3) in Class 9 as part of the three-language scheme. She stated that doing so would be too stressful for children, with Board exams just a year away.

Justice Nagarathna said a third language should be introduced in Class 6 and stopped in Class 9. “Third language should stop in Class 9, not start in Class 9,” Justice Nagarathna, heading a Division Bench, said.

She said the pressure of the Class 10 Board exams start as early as in Class 8.

“Tell the Union of India to please not do this… Tell the government not to do it. Why introduce third language in Class 9? That is stressful. Why not Class 6?” Justice Nagarathna pointed out.

The Judge, who is in line to be the first woman Chief Justice of India as per the seniority norm, recalled how while she was in school, lessons meant for Class 10, would start being taught in Class 8 itself.

“And this was in 1976, you can just imagine what the pressure would be on children now,” Justice Nagarathna said.

The Court was hearing petitions filed on the introduction of Navodaya schools in Tamil Nadu. The State government, during the previous Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) regime, had maintained that the schools envisioned under the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Scheme was “fundamentally incompatible” with the two-language policy followed in Tamil Nadu.

The State had, in earlier hearings, argued that the Navodaya scheme based on the three-language formula was a deviation from the mandate of the Tamil Nadu Tamil Learning Act, 2006. The State had submitted that the three-language formula was considered as a core pedagogical and administrative framework of the Navodaya scheme. The Tamil Nadu government had maintained that the imposition of the scheme was a “backdoor” ploy to make Hindi compulsory.

On Thursday (July 16, 2026), Justice Nagarathna advised the new Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam-led State government not to deny the children of Tamil Nadu the benefit of central schools through the Navodaya scheme. The Court suggested that Tamil Nadu could have its “own education system” without denying children the option of enrolling in Navodaya schools.

The Judge pointed out that Hindi was not compulsory under the three-language scheme.

“Children could opt for any other language. It need not be Hindi. Why not Sanskrit? All other States have Navodaya schools, then why not have them for the children of Tamil Nadu?” Justice Nagarathna asked senior advocate Haripriya Padmanabhan, Additional Advocate General for Tamil Nadu.

Advocates G. Priyadarshi and Rahul Shyam Bhandari, for respondent Kumari Maha Sabha, said children in Tamil Nadu were faring well in CBSE schools and pass percentile was as high as 99.9%.

The Court gave the State government three weeks to consult with the various stakeholders on the question of compliance of a Supreme Court order in December 2025 to allocate land for Navodaya schools.

In December 2025, the Supreme Court modified an eight-year-old stay order, directing the Government of Tamil Nadu to identify the land necessary to establish Navodaya Vidyalayas in every district.

While the earlier DMK regime was of the opinion that the implementation of the Navodaya scheme was unnecessary in Tamil Nadu, which already provided quality residential education to meritorious students from rural and economically weaker sections, Ms. Padmanabhan adopted a cautious tone, saying the new government was engaged in talks about the Navodaya school scheme and needed some time to chalk out its course of action.

Acknowledging the intricacies of a “change of guard” in the State, the Court gave time till August 11, the next date of hearing.