Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday said the government takes responsibility for discrepancies reported in the Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) new On Screen Marking (OSM) system, and assured students that all grievances will be redressed, even as he hit back at Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha over his criticism of the evaluation process.
Pradhan said some discrepancies had come to the government’s attention after the nationwide launch of the OSM system this year, but stressed that the digital assessment system was a “progressive tool” aimed at improving transparency and access for students.
“This is the first time that CBSE is implementing this system in the country. We have noticed some discrepancies, for which I take responsibility. These issues will be rectified, and appropriate solutions will be found. We will not leave any student’s unanswered query or concerns unresolved,” Pradhan told reporters in Delhi.
CBSE has digitally evaluated around 9.8 million answer scripts from around 1.7 million students, including nearly 40 crore scanned pages, he said. “OSM is student-centered and is designed to ensure transparency of information about grades,” he said.
Pradhan also said that expert teams from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur and IIT Madras have been engaged to examine technical concerns associated with the rollout. The Center has integrated CBSE’s payment gateway with four public sector banks – State Bank of India, Indian Bank, Bank of Baroda and Canara Bank – to simplify student payments associated with post-result services, he added.
Reacting to Pradhan’s remarks, Gandhi in a post on X said that personal attacks would not “absolve” the government of responsibility regarding the CBSE assessment controversy. Questioning the award of the OSM contract to Coempt Edu Teck – formerly known as Globarena Technologies – Gandhi questioned why the company was chosen despite past controversies and whether proper background checks were conducted.
Earlier on Wednesday, Gandhi alleged that CBSE skipped background checks, bypassed rules for awarding the contract to the Hyderabad-based company, and alleged a nexus between the company’s management and the government. CBSE denied the allegations and termed them “false, misleading and not based on facts”.
