New Delhi, April 10 -- The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Thursday directed schools to begin teaching a third language (R3) from Class 6 "immediately", using locally available books, in line with its latest scheme of studies. The directive comes a week after CBSE, on April 2, introduced sweeping changes to its curriculum, making a third language compulsory from Class 6 starting with the 2026-27 academic session. The current batch of Class 6 students will be the first to study a compulsory third language through to Class 10 in 2030-31. However, the subject will not be part of the board examination; instead, it will be assessed through an internal, school-based evaluation in 2031, according to the curriculum document. In a circular dated April 9, CBSE asked schools to finalise their choice of third language(s), inform their respective regional offices, and update the details on the Online Affiliated School Information System (OASIS) portal. "It is further informed that only those R3 languages which are introduced in Class 6 by a school will be available as options in Classes 9 and 10 for that school," the circular signed by Dr Praggya M. Singh, professor and director (Academics) said. Under the new curriculum, language subjects will be organised into three levels-R1, R2 and R3-as part of a structured three-language model. R1 (Language 1) will be the student's main or strongest language, studied at a higher level, R2 (Language 2) is a different language, studied at a slightly different level. The third language (R3) will be compulsory from Class 6 starting academic session 2026-27 and extended progressively to Class 10 by 2030-31. The changes operationalise ideas first mooted as part of the National Curriculum Framework for School Education 2023 and are aligned with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020....