Dharmendra Pradhan orders IIT-Madras, IIT-Kanpur experts to fix CBSE portal glitches amid post-result chaos

UNion breeding government minister Dharmendra Pradhan on sun directed a team up of professors and technological experts from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) Madras and IIT Kanpur to assist the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in resolving glitches in its post-result services portal, amid complaints from students and parents over technical issues in the re-evaluation process and lower-than-expected scores in Class 12 exams under the new digital evaluation system.“The expert team will implement focused technological improvements of the systems and technical workflows and will specifically examine portal stability and server performance,” the ministry said in a statement.It added: “The team will also examine the overall IT Infrastructure robustness and assist in taking corrective measures to ensure that login authentication/ user access systems/ payment gateways are accurate and in order.”Reiterating that “student interests remain paramount”, the statement asserted that all necessary corrective measures must be undertaken by CBSE on priority to ensure a “transparent, efficient and student-friendly system”.Concerns after drop in Class 12 resultsThe development comes days after the CBSE Class 12 results, declared on May 13, saw the overall pass percentage falling to 85.20%, down 3.19 percentage points from 88.39% last year — the lowest since 2019. The intervention follows widespread complaints from several students and parents regarding marks awarded in some subjects, with many expressing doubts about whether their answer sheets had been evaluated correctly under the Board’s On-Screen Marking (OSM) system.Heavy demand for re-evaluationTwo days later, on May 15, CBSE announced revised post-result procedures, allowing students to first obtain scanned copies of their evaluated answer books before applying for verification of marks or re-evaluation. The application window for obtaining scanned copies opened on May 19. However, following reports of technical issues and heavy traffic on the portal, CBSE extended the deadline twice, eventually pushing it to midnight May 25.This was the first full-fledged rollout of OSM, under which 9.866 million answer books were digitally evaluated while 13,583 copies were checked manually because repeated scanning failed to produce legible images.Students report errors, delays and portal issuesThe scale of concern is reflected in the numbers: CBSE has received 294,000 applications covering over 856,000 answer books, compared with 131,000 applications for 282,000 answer books last year.For Sarvagya Singh of Jharkhand’s Bokaro, the consequences are potentially life-changing. The DPS Bokaro student scored 89.7%, well below the 93% he expected, including 71% in mathematics, a score he insists is impossible. “The final tally makes absolutely no sense. My bare minimum should never have dropped below 85%,” he said.Singh said he paid ₹500 for scanned copies of five answer books but had still not received them. The result threatens to cost him admission to the University of Hong Kong (HKU), which had offered him an 80% scholarship, conditional on scoring 85% in mathematics.“I intentionally skipped JEE because I was preparing for HKU. Because of this evaluation, my scholarship dream has been flushed down the drain and an entire year of my life may be wasted,” he added.Devesh Agarwal of Uttarakhand’s Haldwani, who expected 94% but scored 85%, said the answer sheets he received after paying ₹600 “looked as if someone had clicked them from a phone in a hurry”.“Many pages were blurred and I’ve already found more than 15 discrepancies across four answer sheets,” he said.He added: “CBSE never informed us that answer sheets would come from a Gmail address. I found them sitting in my spam folder.”A Delhi student, who topped her school in Class 10 with 97.4% but scored 93% in Class 12, said she had still not received scanned copies of six answer books despite paying on May 21. “How can I raise objections when I can’t even see my answer sheets?” she asked, adding that she finally applied at 2.45 am because the portal kept crashing during the day.A principal of a private school in Delhi blamed the rushed implementation of OSM.“First CBSE awarded low marks due to improper checking under the new system. Checking started nearly a month after exams because scanning took too long, and evaluators were pressured to check copies in a hurry. Teachers were not trained properly, many pages were missed, and marks were not awarded even for correct answers. Now students seeking re-evaluation are facing technical glitches, payment failures and repeated crashes. CBSE applied this system in a hurry and we are witnessing chaos unleashed by OSM,” the principal said, requesting anonymity.Pradhan, Sitharaman discuss CBSE payment gateway overhaulPradhan spoke to Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman to seek her ministry’s support to overhaul the CBSE payment gateway system. In a statement issued on Sunday, the education ministry said four public sector banks — State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, and Indian Bank — would help CBSE “put in place robust payment protocols to ensure timely payments, address payment glitches, and provide automatic refunds for excess payments.”