Overview
- The Governor asked Chief Secretary Shalini Rajneesh to examine the change with the School Education Department after a local language group objected, and the policy remains in force during the review.
- Under the new setup described by the education minister, the SSLC drops from 625 to 525 total marks as the third language moves to grades and no longer counts for pass or fail.
- The government cites 2024–25 results to justify the shift, noting that 146,000 of 164,000 SSLC failures were in the third-language paper.
- The Association for Preservation of Local Languages warns that grading without marks could make the subject feel less important, weaken motivation, and erode linguistic diversity, a view echoed by teachers and parents.
- The change covers languages such as Hindi, Kannada, English, Urdu, Arabic, Sanskrit, Konkani, Tulu, and Marathi, and most students pick Hindi as their third language.