The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has come under fire for its decision to provide question papers exclusively in English or Hindi, leaving students from Urdu medium schools facing significant challenges. This change affects numerous institutions across India, including Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU), where instruction has traditionally been conducted in Urdu.
As a result of this directive, students are now forced to choose between English or Hindi when filling out admission forms, creating difficulties for those who are more proficient in Urdu. According to a report in The Telegraph, CBSE has mandated that question papers for classes 10 and 12 will only be printed in English or Hindi. Moreover, any answers submitted in languages other than these two without the board’s explicit permission will not be evaluated. Students who attempt to write in Urdu will receive results with no marks for that subject.
The issue is particularly concerning for MANUU students, many of whom are not comfortable with Hindi or English. Despite the CBSE being aware of the Urdu medium instruction when granting affiliation to these schools, the board stopped providing Urdu-language question papers since 2021, without prior notice. While students had continued to write their answers in Urdu, this latest directive prohibits that practice.
An official from one of the MANUU schools expressed frustration over the sudden policy shift, highlighting that students are struggling to understand question papers in Hindi or English after being accustomed to Urdu. This abrupt change has left thousands of Urdu medium students uncertain about their performance in upcoming exams. In Delhi alone, there are 12 CBSE-pattern Urdu medium schools that are now affected by this decision.
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