The Punjab government has made it mandatory for all schools in the state, irrespective of the educational board, to teach Punjabi as a main and compulsory subject.
Under the new directive, all schools, whether affiliated with the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB), Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) or Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), will be required to include Punjabi in their curriculum.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Punjab education minister Harjot Singh Bains said the AAP-led state government has issued a fresh notification with immediate effect whereby Punjabi will be the main subject for Class 10 under any education board in the state. “If Punjabi is taught without being the main subject, the certificate will be considered null and void. It will be implemented on all boards,” he added.
Bains accuses CBSE of dropping Punjabi from Class-10 subject list
He also accused the Union government and the CBSE of dropping Punjabi from the list of subjects for Class 10 board examinations.
The development came a day after the CBSE approved draft norms for conducting the Class 10 board exams twice a year from 2026. The notification issued by CBSE include Rai, Urung, Tamang, Sherpa, Sanskrit, Urdu, Marathi, Gujarati, Manipuri, Tibetat, Bhoti, Telugum Bodo, Tangkhul, Bhutia, Kashmiri, Mizo and Thai but drops Punjabi from the list of regional languages. The board has published the draft norms on its website and sought feedback from various stakeholders by March 9.
“It is a well-planned conspiracy against Punjab, Punjabi and Punjabiyat,” Bains told reporters in Chandigarh, slamming the CBSE for allegedly dropping Punjabi from the list of subjects in its draft examination policy.
{{/usCountry}}“It is a well-planned conspiracy against Punjab, Punjabi and Punjabiyat,” Bains told reporters in Chandigarh, slamming the CBSE for allegedly dropping Punjabi from the list of subjects in its draft examination policy.
{{/usCountry}}Citing the draft policy, Bains said science, maths, social science, Hindi and English are the main subjects of Class 10, while the regional and foreign languages are clubbed in one group and the rest of the subjects in another. “It means Punjabi is not the main subject. The main regional language has been finished,” he alleged.
Alleging that Punjabi was removed from the list of regional and foreign languages, Bains said the board has kept foreign languages such as Thai, German, and French but forgot to mention Punjabi.
No change in list: CBSE
The CBSE was quick to clarify that the list in the draft norms was only indicative and no subjects would be dropped. “There is no change in the list of subjects offered at present. The list in the draft policy is indicative. All subjects offered at present will continue in the Class 10 Board exams in both phases,” CBSE examination controller Sanyam Bhardwaj told reporters.
The CBSE said that the board would continue to offer all languages, including Punjabi, Russian, Nepali, Limboo, Lepcha, Sindhi, Malayalam, Odia, Assamese, Kannada, Kokborok, Telugu, Arabic, and Persian, in addition to the languages mentioned under “Regional and Foreign languages group”.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader also hit out at state unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for terming this issue a “clerical mistake”. He said he has written to Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, seeking to know what action will be taken against the “clerical mistake”.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and state’s former education minister Daljit Singh Cheema also opposed the alleged removal of Punjabi as an option in the regional language list by the CBSE and demanded its immediate restoration.
“It was very strange that the Centre was adopting such a discriminatory attitude towards Punjabi language,” Cheema said.
Bains said the Punjab government has imposed a fine of ₹50,000 on a Mohali-based private school, Amity International School, for failing to comply with the Punjab Learning of Punjabi and Other Languages Act, 2008.
According to a report of the district education officer (secondary), the school was found to be violating the Act, which mandates teaching of Punjabi as a compulsory subject. Two Jalandhar-based schools were also penalised for violating this Act, the minister said.
He further said that Punjab will bring its own education policy and a committee of experts will be constituted soon for this purpose.