Tamil Nadu’s two-language policy: the short answer
No. Tamil Nadu’s two-language policy does not ban Hindi.
Last verified: 31 October 2026
Tamil Nadu’s policy is built around Tamil and English as the two compulsory languages in the State’s school-education model. The central policy disagreement is not whether a person may learn Hindi or another language. It is whether the government should require every student to study a third language.
- Learning a language is one question.
- A school offering a language is another.
- The government making a language compulsory is a different question.
Tamil Nadu has consistently chosen a two-language compulsory framework rather than a compulsory three-language framework.
This policy did not begin in 2025
Tamil Nadu’s two-language policy has a long political history. The anti-Hindi movements that preceded it involved political leaders, social reformers, students and activists over several decades. Periyar E. V. Ramasamy was a major early opponent of compulsory Hindi. C. N. Annadurai and the DMK made opposition to Hindi imposition a major political issue, while student participation was especially important during the 1965 anti-Hindi agitation.
After the DMK won the 1967 election and Annadurai became Chief Minister, his government adopted the two-language formula of Tamil and English in 1968. Successive Tamil Nadu governments have continued that basic policy. A 2002 Tamil Nadu Governor’s Address itself referred to the “two-language policy of Tamil and English formulated by Perarignar Anna.”
The Tamil Nadu State Education Policy 2025 therefore did not create the two-language policy. It is important because it reaffirms the State’s current position: Tamil Nadu continues to follow a two-language policy of Tamil and English.
What does Tamil Nadu law require?
The Tamil Nadu Tamil Learning Act, 2006 provides an important statutory foundation. It requires Tamil to be taught as a subject from Standards I to X in schools within the Act’s scope.
- Part I — Tamil: compulsory
- Part II — English: compulsory
- Part III — Mathematics, Science, Social Science and other subjects
- Part IV — students whose mother tongue is neither Tamil nor English may study their mother tongue as an optional subject
The Act covers multiple categories of schools specified in the legislation, including government and aided schools and categories such as nursery and primary, matriculation, Anglo-Indian and Oriental schools. This is why it is misleading to treat “schools in Tamil Nadu” as one single administrative category. State-run schools, aided schools, State-system private schools, CBSE schools, Union-government schools and international-board schools can have overlapping but different legal and curricular requirements.
We will address those school categories separately in a dedicated explainer. The important point here is that Tamil Nadu’s two-language policy does not mean that no school physically located in Tamil Nadu may ever teach more than two languages.
So is Hindi banned?
No. “Hindi is not a compulsory third language” and “Hindi is banned” are two different statements.
Tamil Nadu’s policy determines the compulsory language structure of its State education model. It does not prohibit an individual from learning Hindi. Hindi and other languages may be learned where they are offered, through other educational arrangements, or according to the requirements of a different school board.
Tamil Nadu’s objection is broader than Hindi: the State rejects the proposition that every student should be required to study a third language as part of a compulsory three-language framework.
What about CBSE schools in Tamil Nadu?
A CBSE school located in Tamil Nadu does not become a Tamil Nadu State Board school. It must comply with applicable State law while also following CBSE’s affiliation and academic requirements.
Under the earlier CBSE secondary scheme, Classes IX–X had two compulsory language subjects, and either Hindi or English had to be one of them. A Tamil Nadu CBSE student could therefore take Tamil + English as the two compulsory languages without Hindi.
CBSE historically had a three-language framework in selected grades, particularly Classes VI–VIII. This could coexist with Tamil Nadu’s two-language policy because the State’s position did not amount to a blanket ban on schools teaching or offering an additional language. At the secondary stage, a Tamil Nadu CBSE student could continue with Tamil + English as the two compulsory languages without taking Hindi. In this practical sense, CBSE schools in Tamil Nadu could operate within the State’s language-policy environment: an additional language could be studied in selected earlier grades, while Tamil and English could remain the two compulsory languages at the secondary stage.
CBSE changed the Class IX structure in 2026. From 1 July 2026, the new Class IX cohort is required to study R1 + R2 + R3, with at least two of the three being native Indian languages.
For Tamil Nadu students, the significant change is therefore straightforward: at this stage, CBSE has moved from two compulsory languages to three compulsory languages for the new Class IX cohort. CBSE has not made Hindi specifically compulsory.
Why the 2026 CBSE change conflicts with Tamil Nadu’s policy position
The conflict is about making a third language compulsory, not only about Hindi. In Circular Acad-33/2026, CBSE explicitly links the change to NEP 2020, NCF-SE 2023 and the NCERT syllabus. For the new Class IX cohort in 2026–27, the rule effective from 1 July 2026 requires R1 + R2 + R3, subject to the circular’s exemptions.
This moves compulsory third-language study into a secondary stage where Tamil + English previously satisfied the two compulsory language subjects. It therefore runs against Tamil Nadu’s policy position that a third language should not be compulsory for every student. Allowing a choice of third language does not remove the requirement to study one. “Hindi is not specifically compulsory” answers which language is required; it does not resolve the disagreement over requiring three languages.
This is a comparison of policy positions, not a finding that CBSE’s rule is unlawful or that Tamil Nadu’s State Board has adopted it. The historical coexistence described above remains relevant to the earlier grades and rules; it does not erase the new Class IX disagreement. Clarified 31 October 2026.
For the detailed class-by-class rules and the 2026 transition, see CBSE Language Rules 2026: Is Hindi Compulsory in Tamil Nadu?
The real question: why make a third language compulsory?
Discussions about language policy often begin with the assumption that if knowing another language can be useful, requiring every student to study another language must also be useful. Those are not the same proposition.
Every compulsory subject consumes instructional time, teacher resources and student effort. Language learning also requires continued exposure and use if proficiency is to remain accessible. Research on language attrition has documented the loss or weakening of school-learned language skills after formal learning or regular use ends, and has examined the importance of frequency, recency and type of language use in maintaining proficiency.
This makes the policy question practical: what educational outcome justifies requiring every student to spend years studying a third language?
People also acquire languages because life creates a real need for them. A Tamil speaker who moves elsewhere in India may learn the language useful in that region. People who move to Tamil Nadu may similarly learn Tamil for work and daily communication. The additional language that is useful to one person may not be the one useful to another.
Tamil Nadu’s two-language approach makes a different policy choice: make Tamil and English the compulsory language base rather than require a third language from every student.
A personal experience with language retention
Sengathir D, Raptor.in:
“I studied both Tamil and English at school. I was an English-medium student, but Tamil remained a language subject through Class XII.
After school, I completed college and a master’s degree, and then built my career as a technical English writer. English became the language I constantly used for higher education, work, reading and writing. I continued to speak Tamil every day, but I had very little reason to write it.
About twenty years later, I realised something striking: although Tamil is my mother tongue and I speak it fluently, I had reached a point where I struggled to write even my own name properly in Tamil.
I had studied Tamil throughout school. I had written examinations in it. Yet those years of compulsory study did not preserve my ability to write the language when I stopped regularly using that skill.
I had to consciously work on Tamil again to regain my writing ability.
This experience shaped how I look at compulsory language education. Studying a language for years in school does not guarantee that we will retain it for life. A language becomes a lasting practical skill when we continue to use it.
If even my mother tongue—Tamil, a language I continued to speak—could lose its written fluency through lack of practice, we should seriously question the value of forcing every student to spend years studying a third language that they may rarely use after school.
People move for education, work and family. When they need another language, they often learn the language relevant to where they live and the people around them. The useful additional language for one person may be Hindi; for another it may be Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu, Bengali or something else.
The question is not whether learning more languages is good. The question is whether the State should decide that every child must study a third language, regardless of whether that language will have a practical role in that child’s life.”
What about Navodaya schools?
Navodaya Vidyalayas add another layer because they are Union-run residential schools, not ordinary Tamil Nadu State schools. Their administration, language framework and migration programme are part of the continuing dispute over whether Tamil Nadu should facilitate a centrally administered school system operating under a different language model.
That dispute should not be reduced to “Tamil Nadu does not allow Hindi.” See our separate explainer: Navodaya Schools in Tamil Nadu: Why Does the State Object?
Frequently asked questions
Is Hindi banned in Tamil Nadu schools?
No. Tamil Nadu’s two-language policy does not create a general prohibition on learning Hindi.
What are Tamil Nadu’s two compulsory languages?
Tamil and English form the State’s two-language policy. The Tamil Learning Act makes Tamil compulsory through Standard X in schools within the Act’s scope.
Can students learn Hindi?
Yes. The policy does not prohibit a person from learning Hindi. Whether a particular school offers it depends on the school system, board rules and applicable law.
Why does Tamil Nadu oppose the three-language formula?
Tamil Nadu has chosen Tamil and English as its compulsory language framework and rejects making a third language compulsory for every student. The dispute concerns compulsion, educational burden and State authority over language policy, not merely whether Hindi is one of the available languages.
Do all schools in Tamil Nadu follow exactly the same language rules?
No. Government, aided, State-system private, CBSE, Union-run and international-board schools can be subject to different combinations of State law and board requirements. This distinction deserves a separate school-by-school explainer.
Bottom line
Tamil Nadu’s two-language policy is not a new 2025 policy and it is not a ban on Hindi. Its modern political foundation goes back to the Annadurai government’s adoption of the Tamil-and-English two-language formula in 1968, after decades of opposition to compulsory Hindi.
The policy is easiest to understand by separating learning, offering and compulsion. A person may learn additional languages; different school systems may offer or require additional languages; but Tamil Nadu’s State policy rejects making a third language a universal compulsory requirement.
The 2026 CBSE change matters because the new Class IX framework increases the compulsory language count at that stage from two to three. It still does not make Hindi specifically compulsory.
Primary sources and research
- Tamil Nadu Tamil Learning Act, 2006 — India Code
- Tamil Nadu State Education Policy 2025 — Government of Tamil Nadu, School Education Department
- Tamil Nadu Governor’s Address 2002–03 — Government of Tamil Nadu, referring to the two-language policy formulated by Perarignar Anna
- CBSE Circular Acad-33/2026 — Class IX R1/R2/R3 changes
- CBSE Curriculum 2026–27
- Jessner, Oberhofer & Megens, “The attrition of school-learned foreign languages: A multilingual perspective,” Applied Psycholinguistics, 2021.
