When CBSE declared Class 12 results on May 13, it went on to become one of the most damaging controversies in the board's recent history. The culprit? The digital evaluation technology called On-Screen Marking, or OSM, which was introduced at scale this year for the first time.
OSM replaces the traditional system of posting physical answer sheets to examiners at home. Instead, answer sheets are scanned and uploaded to a portal, where examiners evaluate them on-screen. The board has maintained that it makes the process more transparent, efficient, and error-free. But students, parents, and several examiners disagree.
Within days of the results, complaints flooded in.
There were cases of unexpectedly low marks in Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics; blurred scans making handwriting illegible; multi-page answers evaluated only partially; page-level marks that did not add up to the stated total; and a re-evaluation portal that crashed repeatedly during payments and submissions.
Multiple media reports found that some students who had cleared JEE Mains failed their board exams, while others reported entire answers going unchecked.
The controversy deepened further when it emerged, according to Hindustan Times, that the OSM contract was awarded to Hyderabad-based Coempt Edu Teck, which beat TCS as the lowest financial bidder on December 5, 2025, just 66 days before the board announced a full nationwide rollout on February 9, 2026. Teachers who participated in pre-rollout field exercises told media reports that the system needed at least another year or two of preparation.
More ground reports further highlighted that the system was piloted for Class 9 internal assessments during Covid, but was dropped after glitches. This was why the scale and speed of this year's rollout came as a surprise even to school principals.
In the middle of the unfolding controversy, videos appeared online of school principals praising OSM in strikingly similar language, according to a major media outlet. However, their investigation found no evidence of any formal CBSE directive instructing schools to record such endorsements, though the timing prompted widespread questions.
What was worse was when the CBSE Class 12 results slumped at the national level this year, many teachers in Delhi were issued show-cause notices and memorandums, and reportedly threatened with adverse remarks in their Annual Performance Appraisal Reports. The Government Schools Teachers' Association (GSTA) swiftly responded, blaming the OSM system and insisting that Delhi education minister Ashish Sood withdraw the show-cause notices issued to teachers.
A 19-year-old cybersecurity researcher also went on to allege multiple critical security vulnerabilities in the OSM portal, including the potential for unauthorised access to examiner accounts and modification of marks.
In fact, a PTI exclusive report on Friday, citing government sources, stated that the CBSE revaluation portal's payment system was hit by a "malicious attack", with about 50 students gaining unauthorised access.
The Ministry of Education has since revised the re-evaluation fee structure. CBSE has said students can apply for scanned copies of their answer sheets and seek re-evaluation. But for many families, is the damage already done?
[This article combines inputs from ground reports, other media, and agencies]
