The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has issued a directive for schools to implement a third language (R3) for Class 6 students starting from the 2026-27 academic session. This change follows the introduction of significant reforms on April 2, which made the third language compulsory for students, who will first encounter it in Class 10 during the 2030-31 academic year. The assessment for R3 will be conducted through school-based internal evaluations rather than traditional board examinations. Schools are required to finalize their selected third languages and report them to CBSE's regional offices, which will maintain records of the implementation. The new curriculum is part of a structured three-language model, where students will study R1 (primary language), R2 (secondary language), and R3 (third language). The reforms are in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) 2023, which advocate for a multilingual education system. Schools can choose from 44 languages, ensuring that at least two of the three languages are native to India.