The Karnataka government’s decision to not give marks for third language subjects and instead give grades in the State Board Class 10 (SSLC) examinations was announced midway through the examination process, taking everyone by surprise. This is seen politically as an “anti-Hindi move”, but is otherwise believed to be aimed at reducing academic pressure on students.
While many have criticized the timing of the announcement, which has caused confusion, most have welcomed the intention of the move. Only Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders have opposed it, in principle, on the grounds of being “anti-Hindi”. Some of them have vowed to bring back the three-language formula for examinations if they come back to power.
Announcing the decision, School Education and Literacy Minister S. Madhu Bangarappa pointed out that till last year, the SSLC exam was conducted for a total of 625 marks in six subjects, out of which 100 marks were allotted for the third language. From now on, the third language paper will only be graded and the total marks will not be considered, there will be no pass or fail system for the third language, and the new total marks for the five subjects will be 525. However, the third language will be taught and examinations will be conducted as before.
Most take Hindi
This new rule will be applicable to third languages ​​like Hindi (NCERT), Hindi, Kannada, English, Arabic, Urdu, Sanskrit, Konkani, Tulu and Marathi. However, data for the year 2025-26 shows that 93% of students have taken Hindi as a third language. Out of the total 8,07,962 students who have registered for the SSLC exam this academic year, 7,52,398 students have Hindi as their third language.
The minister argued that the move was aimed at reducing pressure on students. He said the decision was taken due to a large number of students failing in the third language, which is mainly Hindi, in state board schools. The data for 2024-25 shows that out of the total 1.64 lakh students who failed in the SSLC exam, 1.46 lakh students failed in the third language paper.
Mr Bangarappa argued that looking at the data, it was clear that students were not comfortable with the third language and it was a burden on them. He argued that grading papers, rather than scoring them, was another measure to protect students’ interests.
He further said that several Kannada organizations had threatened to protest over the issue, arguing that Hindi was being “imposed” on Kannada people and that it was adversely affecting the future of students in the state. He said that the Kannada Development Authority and the State Education Policy (SEP) Commission, led by educationist Professor Sukhdev Thorat, have also recommended adopting a two-language policy in the state, abandoning the existing three-language policy.
Grading the third-language paper and not counting it in the total marks is now considered a first step towards a two-language policy. After the SEP Commission submitted its report to the state government in 2025, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah expressed his support for adopting a two-language formula in the state. However, the government is yet to fully implement the SEP report.
Controversial TLF
There has always been strong opposition to the Three Language Formula (TLF) in non-Hindi speaking states, especially those that have had governments led by regional parties. However, in recent years, other states ruled by both the Congress and the BJP have also been growing rapidly.
The All India Council of Education recommended the adoption of TLF in September 1956. Then-Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and others in the Congress supported the policy of promoting a “national contact language”, which they said would promote national unity. This policy was first adopted by the Kothari Commission in the National Policy on Education – 1968, according to which TLF includes the study of a modern Indian language, preferably one of the southern languages, in addition to Hindi and English in Hindi speaking states and the study of Hindi along with the regional language and English in non-Hindi speaking states. This policy was supposed to promote national unity, multilingual capability and cultural exchange. Implementation of TLF has also been emphasized in NEP-2020.
However, this policy was strongly opposed by Tamil Nadu, which stuck to the two-language policy of Tamil and English. Similarly, most Hindi-speaking states have not implemented the three-language formula in letter and spirit. Most states do not teach any modern Indian language like any South Indian language as their third language. They mostly teach Sanskrit, Urdu or, in some cases, foreign languages. However, from 1968 onwards the TLF was implemented in the state without any opposition.
Dissatisfaction over this formula first emerged in Karnataka in the 1970s, but over Sanskrit rather than Hindi. Raising voice against the practice of choosing Sanskrit as the first language at the high school level, there was a demand to give primacy to Kannada in school education, which was addressed during the tenure of Devaraja Urs by moving Sanskrit from the first language group to the third language group.
However, his successor R. Gundu Rao, who was also the Congress Chief Minister, reversed this, leading to strong opposition. To address this, the government appointed a commission under VK Gokak, which recommended making Kannada mandatory as the sole first language in state education. Demanding its implementation, a major movement began under the leadership of actor Dr. Rajkumar, popularly known as “Gokak Chaluvali” in the early 1980s. However, the Gokak Report has never been fully implemented to date.
Between 1968 and 1990, the third language paper carried only 50 marks and passing it was not mandatory. However, over time, 13 marks were set as the passing marks. Furthermore, in the 1990s, with the reform of SSLC examinations, the third language became more formal. The paper was now of 100 marks like other subjects, with 35 passing marks and was compulsory. Hindi emerged as the most widely chosen third language due to availability of teachers, national trend, among other reasons.
“After making it mandatory to score at least 35 marks, mostly in Hindi, in the third language paper, there was pressure on students and the number of those failing the exam increased. Among those failing in the third language, most were children from rural areas,” said Prof. Purushottam Billimale, chairman of the Kannada Development Authority.
opposition to hindi
Historically, the Kannada movement has expressed its opposition to Hindi over Sanskrit, Tamil in southern Karnataka and English in terms of medium of instruction in education. However, since the 2000s, the Kannada movement has increasingly clarified its stance against “Hindi imposition”. It demands that banking and other customer services, which are currently offered only in English and Hindi, should be made available in Kannada also.
It has opposed conducting all central recruitment examinations only in Hindi and English, which would give unfair advantage to Hindi speakers. Due to this, many central recruitment examinations were also conducted in regional languages. Recently, in March, Kannada organizations had forced South Western Railways to cancel an examination to be conducted only in Hindi and English.
The ban on dubbing content from other languages ​​into Kannada in the 1960s to protect the Kannada film industry was opposed on the grounds that a Kannadiga as a consumer had the right to consume all content only in Kannada, which reversed the earlier argument.
The influx of migration to Bengaluru from Hindi-speaking states following the IT boom of the 1990s has also intensified this expression. This is further strengthened by the argument that southern states are being “punished” for population control compared to their northern counterparts, which will impact tax devolution and the upcoming delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies. Since the BJP is seen as “promoting” Hindi more aggressively than the Congress, which was doing so in the early years after independence, opposition to Hindi has also taken on clear political connotations.
Opposition to teaching Hindi in schools also stems from the reluctance of Central Board schools, which have sprung up in large numbers, to teach Kannada, the state’s regional language, especially in urban centers like Bengaluru. This has resulted in a large number of local students becoming proficient in Hindi and English, but not in their mother tongue/regional language, which has angered many people. Following the Kannada Language Comprehensive Development Act, 2022, which makes it mandatory to teach Kannada as a subject, many of these schools are teaching Kannada as a third language.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is following the 3-language formula till class 8 and 2-languages ​​in classes 9 and 10. English (compulsory) and Hindi/regional languages ​​are usually the first and second languages ​​in these schools. For third languages ​​(up to class 8), Sanskrit/regional/foreign language is usually taken. In Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) schools, the third language is compulsory till class 8. Formal examinations will be conducted by the school till class 8. In class 10, the second language is assessed by the board, the third language is usually discontinued.
DSEL Minister Madhu Bangarappa has argued that the state board is also taking a similar approach to the third language, and this is not entirely new. “In states like Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, the two-language formula is in place. In many states, including schools with central curriculum, grading is being given instead of marks for third languages,” he said.
However, leader of opposition in the Karnataka Assembly, R. State BJP leaders, including Ashok, have not only protested against the government’s move to not consider the third language for scoring in SSLC exams, but have also vowed to bring it back if voted to power.
Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje has also strongly opposed it, calling it an “anti-Hindi” move, due to which Kannada organizations have started opposing it. However, interestingly, in Maharashtra, where the BJP is now ruled in alliance with a faction of the regional Hindutva party, Shiv Sena, a controversy arose when the government tried to implement the three-language formula at the primary level. After feedback, the two-language formula continues till Class 5 and the three-language formula thereafter.
Karnataka Raksha Vedike president TA Narayana Gowda demanded, “The decades-old demand of Kannada people has been fulfilled. The government should fully implement the two-language formula. Kannada should be made mandatory as the first language at all levels of education. Licenses of private schools violating it should be cancelled.”
However, teachers, parents and students are confused about the suddenness of this decision. A Hindi teacher from a government school said, “It is disappointing that the government announced this decision with only five days left for the completion of the SSLC exam. Many students called me about this and questioned whether it is necessary to write the exam as Hindi marks are not considered for the results.”
A student who appeared for the exam this time said that he was shocked and worried when he came to know about the grading of Hindi. He said, “I was good at Hindi. Since maths and science were a bit difficult, I thought I could score more marks with Hindi marks. Now I am worried that my SSLC score might go down.”
Kannada as third language
There are concerns about what will happen in schools where Kannada is being taught as a third language, especially in the 5,800 linguistic minority schools and also in schools that have chosen Sanskrit as their first language. The data shows that 11,483 students registered for SSLC exams in 2025-26 have Kannada as their third language, while 7.52 lakh students have Hindi as their third language.
With the government now introducing grading for the third language paper, there are concerns that this may hinder these students’ learning of Kannada. Mr. Bangarappa said a separate policy would be implemented after discussions with experts to ensure that Kannada does not face any problems due to the inclusion of third languages ​​in grading. What will be included in this policy has not been clarified by the government yet.
