The government has removed two top CBSE officials following alleged irregularities in the Class 12 evaluation system. A high-powered committee has also been constituted to investigate the procurement process of services for the CBSE’s on-screen marking (OSM) system. The inquiry will submit its report within one month.

Class 12 students have alleged discrepancies between scanned answer sheets and their original handwriting, raising concerns over possible answer-sheet mismatches in the OSM system. A 17-year-old student from Jharkhand, Sarthak Sidhant, who detected the anomalies, appeared before a parliamentary panel and highlighted alleged irregularities in the CBSE’s tendering process for online marking services.

The CBSE has attributed disruptions on its re-evaluation portal to cyberattacks, including a reported denial-of-service attack involving 1.5 million hits within two minutes.

The board has faced criticism over technical glitches, payment failures, and delays in verification and re-evaluation processes, leading to demands for greater transparency.

The CBSE has maintained that the portal issues have been resolved, stating that the system now supports over 8,000 concurrent users and has successfully processed over 16,000 student submissions, with deadlines extended to facilitate applications.

Such anomalies are not expected from the CBSE, which has over the years conducted these examinations without major issues. It must make course corrections, so that students do not face such problems, as these examinations are among the most important for students in the country.