Third language internal assessment mandatory for Class 9, 10 students: CBSE clarifies R3 rule

NEW DELHI: Students must clear the school-based R3 assessment in Class 10 to be awarded the Secondary School Examination Pass Certificate, while third language (R3) will not be part of the board exam for students who enter Class 10 from 2027-28, CBSE said.

In a circular dated July 10, CBSE said students failing R3 in Class 10 will get a re-assessment chance before results are declared. The CBSE clarified that the same three-language combination from Class 8 continues in Class 9, one of these three to be chosen as R3.

The NCERT has rolled out R3 Language Learning Resources on its website for students and schools. For students who are in Class 9 (2026-27), CBSE said every student will study three languages. Out of these three languages, at least two would be Bhartiya Bhashas, subject to the relaxation and exemptions: Examples of Bhartiya Bhashas — Hindi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, Odia, Assamese, etc. Examples of non-native languages: English, French, German, Arabic, Spanish, etc.

For students in Class X (2026-27), CBSE reiterated that there will be no change, and they will continue with the old system of two languages. No third language is required to be taken by this batch.

“The third language (R3) will be assessed by the school through an internal school-based assessment only. The assessment criteria applicable to class IX (2026-27) & class X (2027-28), as given at point ‘B’ above, will also be applicable to these batches. There will be no CBSE Board examination for the third language when these batches progress to Class X,” CBSE said in the notice. (ANI)