Supreme Court questions if English should still count as foreign language in India

The Supreme Court is grappling with a question that cuts to the heart of India's linguistic identity: whether English, despite centuries of use in the country, should still be classified as a foreign language. The debate has emerged during hearings on challenges to the Central Board of Secondary Education's three-language formula, which requires students to study two native Indian languages, a designation that currently excludes English.

The constitutional and pedagogical stakes

The court's deliberations centre on English's unique position in India's educational and administrative landscape. Unlike other colonial-era imports that faded after independence, English has persisted as what the Bench described as a "link language" in both governance and higher education. This entrenchment raises fundamental questions about how India defines linguistic ownership after nearly eight decades of self-rule.

The CBSE policy at the centre of the legal challenge reflects a long-standing tension in Indian language planning: the impulse to promote indigenous languages while accommodating the practical dominance of English in white-collar professions and interstate communication. By mandating two Indian languages, the formula attempts to ensure students maintain roots in native linguistic traditions, but critics argue it fails to acknowledge the lived reality of English in contemporary India.

Expert voices on linguistic belonging

The Hindu's In Focus podcast has convened two scholars with contrasting disciplinary perspectives to unpack the question. Apoorvanand, who teaches in Delhi University's Hindi department, and Ganesh Devy, a former English professor who led the ambitious People's Linguistic Survey of India project, bring both pedagogical experience and research depth to the conversation.

Devy's survey work is particularly relevant, his multi-year documentation effort mapped India's staggering linguistic diversity and the power dynamics that determine which languages thrive and which face extinction. The podcast, hosted by Priscilla Jebaraj and produced by Jude Weston, aired on August 27, 2026.

The Supreme Court's eventual ruling will have ripple effects far beyond courtroom semantics, potentially reshaping curriculum requirements across the CBSE system and forcing a national reckoning with how India balances linguistic heritage against the realities of a globalised economy.

Source: The Hindu