Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday addressed the controversy surrounding the CBSE’s On-Screen Marking (OSM) system, saying he takes responsibility for discrepancies and inconvenience faced by students during the post-result evaluation process.
“I take responsibility. It will be fixed, a solution will be found. We are all working on that task,” Pradhan said after a meeting with officials of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in New Delhi.
The minister’s remarks came amid mounting complaints from students and parents over blurred scanned copies of answer sheets, alleged unchecked answers, portal crashes, payment failures and confusion during the re-evaluation process.
Defending the digital evaluation system, Pradhan described the OSM model as a “progressive instrument” aimed at ensuring transparency and student-centric assessment.
“Out of the 17 lakh students who took the exam, we have maintained the answer scripts of 98 lakh copies,” he said, adding that the total number of scanned pages was close to 40 crore.
The controversy has escalated into a political issue after Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi questioned the handling of the process and demanded accountability.
Also read: CBSE denies breach in its evaluation portal
Responding to the criticism, Pradhan said CBSE had already clarified its position and maintained that the evaluation system followed government procurement norms.
“I want to assure everyone that if any irregularities are found, no one will be spared,” he said.
The minister also accused Rahul Gandhi of repeatedly opposing initiatives linked to “Digital India” and technological progress.
“Politics can be done later. Right now, the most important thing is that the mental stress of these students and examinees should not increase further,” he added.
The controversy erupted after thousands of students reported problems while accessing scanned copies of evaluated answer books. Several claimed pages appeared blurred or incomplete, while others alleged certain answers had not been checked or were incorrectly marked.
CBSE later extended the deadline for applying for scanned answer sheets and urged students not to panic, assuring that all genuine concerns would be examined by subject experts.
The issue has triggered wider debate around transparency, digital infrastructure and student trust in high-stakes examinations.
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