What is OSM? CBSE evaluation system for Class 12 that got Delhi student 'Pakistani' label

THe young OSM scheme of the telephone exchange room of Secondary breeding (CBSE) for Class 12 has come under scrutiny over growing complaints alleging glitches and discrepancies in the re-evaluation process. The escalation of complaints has prompted the CBSE to respond individually to affected students, providing necessary clarifications and corrective action.The concerns over CBSE's On-Screen Marking (OSM) stem from allegations by students that the scanned copies of their answer sheets uploaded by the board did not match their handwriting, raising concerns over possible answer-sheet mismatch in the On-Screen Marking (OSM) system.Among all the complaints and allegations, that particularly of a Class 12 student named Vedant Shrivastava went viral, bringing more attention to the issue, Vedant, a Delhi student who was trolled, abused and called a “Pakistani’ on social media after flagging discrepancies in the CBSE OSM system, alleged on May 23 that the Physics answer sheet uploaded by the CBSE under the re-evaluation process was not his.What is OSMCBSE introduced On-Screen Marking (OSM) for Class12 Board examinations from 2026. Under OSM, answer books are digitally scanned and evaluated online — which the board says eliminates totaling errors and reduces manual intervention.The system enables faster evaluation, wider teacher participation including overseas schools, reduced logistics costs, and environmentally sustainable processes, according to CBSE. The CBSE had said that under OSM, post-result verification of marks will no longer be required.While the CBSE says there is no difference between traditional evaluation method and OSM system, board's joint secretary (coordination), in an email to Vedant Shrivastava, acknowledged the mismatch and said his marks would be revised shortly. HT reviewed the communication sent to the student.Who is Vedant Shrivastava and what was his complaintVedant, a Delhi resident, was among the students who reported issues ranging from blurry scans and missing pages to mismatched answer sheets after CBSE declared Class 12 Board results on May 13.Vedant had applied for scanned copies of his answer sheets on May 19 after securing what he described as “unexpectedly low marks” in Physics.When he received the scanned copies on May 23, Shrivastava noticed that the Physics script uploaded against his roll number wasn’t his.He took to X to highlight the discrepancy, sharing side-by-side screenshots of the scripts from his English and Computer Science answer sheets to establish that the handwriting in the Physics paper was not his.“I studied for an entire year. I sacrificed sleep, peace of mind, outings, everything for these exams. And now I don’t even know whether my actual Physics paper was checked. Do students really deserve this?” he said in a post on X on May 23. By Monday evening, Vedant's post went massively viral, crossing 3.2 million (over 32 lakh) views. However, little did Vedant know that him highlighting a discrepancy would turn into a bigger social media controversy, with some netizens labelling him “Pakistani”.Several users also accused him of trying to damage CBSE's image and questioned why his X profile location showed "South Asia".Among those who initially called the student a "Pakistani" was Doordarshan News journalist Ashok Shrivastav. He later apologised, but his remarks sparked massive backlash online. CBSE admits answer sheet mix-upAmid the unwarranted social media bullying, the CBSE was vindicated on Monday after the board acknowledged that a technical issue had led to uploading an incorrect scanned copy against his roll number.In an email, reviewed by HT, CBSE joint secretary (coordination) acknowledged the mismatch pointed out by Vedant and said his marks would be revised shortly. HT has reviewed the communication sent to the student. A senior CBSE official confirmed the error but declined to elaborate why the mix-up happened.“We communicated to Vedant Shrivastava today and have sent the correct answer copy to him on his email. His marks will be updated accordingly,” the earlier HT report quoted official as saying, on condition of anonymity.The official, however, declined to explain how the wrong Physics answer sheet was uploaded against Shrivastava’s roll number, saying, “We will delve into it and share details later.”Meanwhile, another Class 12 student, Sanjana, also alleged on social media that the Chemistry answer sheet uploaded during the revaluation process did not match her handwriting. She claimed that while the first page of the answer booklet carrying her personal details appeared to be hers, the internal pages did not match her handwriting.Sanjana also said that CBSE has responded to her email and confirmed that her concern regarding the Chemistry answer sheet was valid."Update: CBSE replied to our email and confirmed that our concern regarding the Chemistry answer sheet was valid. Thankyou to everyone who helped bring attention to this. Your support meant a lot. Waiting for the next steps from cbse now," she said.She also shared the screengrab of the email received from the board, which read: “Dear Candidate, We have received your complaint regarding wrong chemistry answer sheet photocopy received by you. We have looked into the matter and found your concern to be correct. We have located your correct answer book.” "You will shortly be provided your correct evaluated answer book of chemistry. Further, your result will also be updated subsequently based on the correct marks in chemistry. Best wishes, Joint Secretary, Coordination Unit, CBSE," the email stated.