Panaji, March 19 -- The Goa government announced a "relaxation" under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, allowing schools offering foreign languages such as Portuguese and French in Classes 8, 9 and 10 to continue "until further orders."

Students are required to choose between three languages, typically a local language, a language native to India (usually Hindi), and English, which is considered a foreign language under NEP 2020.

In Goa, a circular issued by the State Council for Educational Research and Training (SCERT) said that the languages to be followed would be R1: Konkani/Marathi, R2: English, and R3: Hindi or any other language native to India, including Konkani/Marathi if not opted as R1, leading to fears that the two ...