The Central Bureau of Secondary Education (CBSE) has found itself in disarray over frequent complaints by students about mismatches in their Class 12 answer sheets, which the board produces through the new On-Screen Marking (OSM) system – an assessment method that has drawn criticism as well as questions for being flawed.
Complaints about OSM have also put the spotlight on Coempt Edutech, which Congress MP Rahul Gandhi cited in his recent criticism of CBSE, questioning “why a company that had a murky past in Telangana would hand over the contract to the board”. CBSE said the contract had already been awarded to Coempt Edutech, but rejected the allegations against the company.
CBSE has introduced the On-Screen Marking System (OSM) for Class12 board exams from 2026. Under OSM, answer books are digitally scanned and evaluated online – which the board says eliminates gross errors and reduces manual intervention.
The system enables faster evaluation, wider participation of teachers including external schools, reduced logistical costs, and environmentally sustainable operations, according to CBSE.
CBSE has been going around offering clarifications and debunking allegations by the opposition after discrepancies reported by Delhi student, Vedant Shrivastava, over the mismatch of his physics paper gave impetus to the already floating complaints surrounding the on-screen assessment system (OSM).
Coempt Edutech, the company in focus amid the CBSE-OSM row
CBSE on Wednesday rejected a claim that it had awarded a contract to Coempt Edutech, saying the claim was “false, misleading and not based on facts”.
The board said the contract had already been awarded to Coempt Edutech, but rejected the allegations against the company.
Coempt Edutech describes itself as a leading education technology company with over 25 years of progressive experience in providing comprehensive testing solutions to certification bodies. “Our solutions such as OneX, Onmark, EzyTest and DigiTab have been rigorously conceived and developed to enable awarding bodies to exercise transparency and good governance in the area of assessment and screening,” says the Coempt Edutech website.
The website states that the company’s headquarters is located in Madhura Nagar, Hyderabad, Telangana.
The senior management of Coempt Edutech comprises of Chairman – Professor Sadagopan, Founder Director, IIIT Bangalore and former Professor at IIT Kanpur and IIM Bangalore; Managing Director M. Anantha Chari, an entrepreneur with experience in the IT, Healthcare, Financial Services and Financial Services (BFSI) sectors; Director and CEO VSN Raju, an experienced IT professional; Director – Dr. R Jayaraman, Member Secretary CED Tamil Nadu and expert in Management Studies and Entrepreneurship; And the director – A V Narayana, a retired officer of the Criminal Investigation Department of Andhra Pradesh CID, according to the website.
The company claims to be the most preferred partner for automating critical examination processes like pre-examination, question paper management, AI-based online examination, answer book digitization (uncut), digital assessment, and post-examination. “Our strong commercial technology team constantly adapts and evolves to implement solutions that impact more than 2 million students each year.”
The company said that it has delivered large, ready-made projects to enable its clients to practice transparency and good governance.
CBSE rejected Rahul Gandhi’s claims
CBSE Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s response came after alleged irregularities in the OSM system and demanded an independent judicial inquiry and a probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the matter.
“The CBSE rejects the allegations regarding award of contract to Coempt Edutech. This is false, misleading and not based on facts,” the board said in a response to Rahul on X.
She said the contract was awarded after following due procedures under general financial rules.
“The CBSE has strictly followed the protocols of the Public Finance Rules in awarding the contract to the agency. The CBSE has floated the RFP for Digital Evaluation of Answer Books for Board Examinations 2026 on the Central Public Procurement Portal on 28.08.2025 and awarded the contract to the eligible bidder,” the Board said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Rahul Gandhi demanded an independent judicial probe as well as a special investigation committee to uncover the truth behind the “entire scam” and questioned why a company with a mysterious past in Telangana would hand over the contract to the board.
Gandhi said CBSE students and their parents were traumatized but Prime Minister Narendra Modi had “nothing to say”.
In a video posted on his social media accounts, Gandhi said that unbelievable details have emerged about the CBSE Class 12 exam.
“COEMPT, the company that did the on-screen marking (OSM) for your exam, was actually called Globarena. Globarena had carried out this scam twice before in Telangana, once for the board exam in Telangana in 2019 and then again in Telangana in 2023. The same OSM-based blunders were responsible for the deaths of 23 Indian youth in Telangana,” the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha said. By suicide.”
“This was all public information. It was known to everyone, but for some hidden reason CBSE chose the same company again. It took us 30 seconds to find out that this company was previously called something else. I am quite sure that people at CBSE and in the government of India were aware of the background of this company,” Gandhi said.
