After multiple students complained about the new On-Screen Marking (OSM) system, which was introduced by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for evaluating Class 12 answer papers this year, Union Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan stated that he had asked the CBSE for a detailed report on the glitches.
The CBSE has been in the eye of the storm recently with Class 12 students and parents complaining about the OSM system and the struggles they face in the re-evaluation process after the completion of the board examination.
“The IIT [Indian Institute of Technology] Madras and IIT Kanpur will look into the technical glitch faced by the CBSE portal. Those who applied for revaluation will get a scanned copy. I’ve taken it seriously. The government is looking into it in detail. I am confident that with the guidance of IIT Madras and IIT Kanpur, it will be resolved,” Mr. Pradhan stated.
The expert teams will implement focused technological improvements of the systems and technical workflows and will specifically examine portal stability and server performance. “The team will also examine the overall IT infrastructure robustness and assist intaking corrective measures to ensure that login authentication, user access systems and payment gateways are accurate and in order,” an official from the Ministry of Education explained.
Cong. slams Minister
On Monday (May 25, 2026), Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh criticised the CBSE for introducing the OSM system for Class 12 board examinations, which he said has thrown into chaos the academic futures of lakhs of children across the country.
“He’s portraying himself as some saviour by bringing in IIT-Kanpur to help address these technical issues. The question really is why these issues were not anticipated? Why did the CBSE and the ministry not plan carefully before adopting this OSM system? Why did it take the minister so long to respond to this issue?” Mr. Ramesh said.
“The Mantri Pradhan owes the country his resignation, and the Pradhan Mantri owes us answers to why this Minister — who is openly disrupting the future of India’s students with his ineptitude — has been allowed to continue for so long,” he said.
In the OSM system, instead of traditionally checking physical copies, the evaluators checked the scanned answer sheets onscreen. Officials in the Education Ministry confirmed that 98 lakh answer books were scanned and evaluated digitally. Experts said that each answer book has an average of 20 sheets, which means that nearly 1.96 crore pages were scanned in a compressed timeline, at centres with varying infrastructure and partially trained staff.
On Monday, a Delhi-based Class 12 student was brutally trolled for taking to X to complain about the unexpectedly low marks he received in Physics. He alleged it may not merely be a “rechecking” issue but a serious answer-sheet mismatch or tagging error in the OSM system. “We applied for photocopies of my answer sheets. And I am shattered because the Physics answer sheet uploaded by the CBSE is not mine,” the student said.
CBSE officials told The Hindu that there was indeed a mix-up with regards to the student’s Physics answer sheet and his original answer book was handed over to him. Other students too have made similar complaints.
The CBSE had been warned by teachers as early as February 2026 that evaluators had not received structured training in the OSM system. While the CBSE had promised that the OSM method of evaluation would lead to greater transparency, speed, and accuracy, according to it’s own data, over 68,000 answer books had to be rescanned due to poor image quality, and over 13,500 were pulled for manual rechecking.
Portal woes
In the results announced earlier this month, Class 12 pass percentage dropped by three percentage points from last year to 85.20%. Having received lower than expected marks, students began applying in large numbers for re-evaluation on the portal, which opened on May 19 and almost immediately crashed due to the heavy traffic.
After encountering the glitch, students were stranded mid-process as the CBSE pulled out the application link from its website entirely. The portal then reopened on May 20.
Students who had paid fees on May 20 reported that payment had been deducted but no confirmation had been received. “Students were in dark even after over 24 hours had passed since the malfunction. Some were able to successfully apply later, others still complained of the process not working. Login failures, application submission errors, download failures continued to be reported,” a parent of a Class 12 CBSE student told The Hindu.
On May 21, the portal again slipped into maintenance mode. The CBSE extended the deadline for application twice — in its attempt to remedy the situation.
Students who managed to access their scanned answer sheets shared screenshots on social media of copies that appeared blurred, unreadable or having rotated pages. “Some scans showed overlapping elements — browser bars, timestamps — obscuring the actual written content. Students posed an obvious question — if we cannot read these copies, how did examiners evaluate them? Multiple students identified answers that match official marking scheme – yet marks were deducted. Evaluators have complained of screen fatigue, poor scan resolution and missed answers during the OSM process,” pointed out educationist and RTI activist Keshav Agarwal.
Many students received their main answer booklets but supplementary sheets were absent. Additionally, students have also identified multiple choice question responses marked as correct but awarded zero marks. “In OSM, MCQs are evaluated through a digital overlay system, if the scan is misaligned the response and overlay may not match,” an official told The Hindu.
CBSE has not commented on how evaluation quality was maintained when OSM system was allegedly defective.
“However, CBSE should hold a formal technical audit, and take accountability for scanning deficiencies, and provide clarity on how evaluation quality can be maintained,” argued Mr. Agarwal.
Published – May 25, 2026 08:42 pm IST
