CBSE 'ignored' calls for regional trials before OSM rollout for Class 12 board exam evaluation

THe telephone exchange room of Secondary training appears to feature neglected views from its own governing body members to hold pilot projects across regional offices before rolling out the new on-screen marking (OSM) system for Class 12 board examinations this year, according to minutes of a meeting seen by HT.The board instead conducted a two-day exercise involving only 100 teachers at five Delhi schools in January — teachers who participated told HT they had advised CBSE not to proceed with the rollout, citing the need for better features, more training and time adapt to the system. The system is now at the centre of a storm, with evaluators saying OSM introduced a completely alien workflow, produced shoddy answer-script scans and recorded marks incorrectly, while parents alleged that many scripts were mixed up.Also Read | What is OSM? CBSE evaluation system for Class 12 that got Delhi student 'Pakistani' labelCBSE formally announced OSM implementation on February 9, just a week before Class 12 examinations began on February 17. The board subsequently held demonstrations, webinars and mock evaluations, which school principals and evaluators described as formalities rather than structured nationwide training for a major shift in evaluation practice. The board began actual evaluation work under OSM from March 7, said CBSE officials.According to minutes of a governing body meeting on in June 2025,members had suggested OSM “may be implemented in all subjects only after completion of pilot projects in some subjects across various regional offices of the board”. The governing body had “noted the suggestion.” CBSE has 22 regional offices. No such pilots were conducted before this year’s rollout.Teachers involved in the January dry run told HT they had warned CBSE the system needed more refinement. “We told officials that OSM required at least a year or two of proper training before rollout. During evaluation from March 7 onwards, many teachers were unfamiliar with the software and effectively learnt while evaluating live answer scripts,” said a teacher from a Delhi school who participated in both the dry run and the live evaluation.CBSE held a nationwide webinar on OSM on February 13 attended by all schools and their teachers, and opened its training portal on February 15 to allow evaluators to practise on previous years’ answer books. At a press conference on May 17, officials said nearly 300,000 teachers logged into the portal for training, while around 77,000 eventually participated in evaluation.A second evaluator told HT that teachers were under pressure from CBSE to complete checking quickly so that results could be declared on time and the digital rollout could be projected as successful. “Teachers had daily targets. Speed mattered more than careful reading,” said a private school principal.The constraints of screen-based evaluation compounded the problem, evaluators said. “In manual checking, you can flip pages, revisit answers and catch missed steps. On screen, answers can be overlooked easily,” said a physics teacher involved in evaluation.A mathematics teacher said fatigue after hours on screen affected step-marking. “Some evaluators were still figuring out the software while checking live answer books. With physical copies, unusual handwriting or answers written in corners are easier to notice. Digitally, they can be missed,” the teacher said.The CBSE did not respond to a specific query about why no region-wise dry run was done. Instead, officials referred to the May 17 press conference where they said CBSE held a nationwide webinar on OSM on February 13 attended by all schools and their teachers, and opened its training portal on February 15 to allow evaluators to practise on previous years’ answer books.Officials acknowledged at the May 17 press conference that OSM threw up initial technical glitches, including login issues, system overload and scanning deficiencies. Of 9,866,622 answer books evaluated this year, 68,018 had to be rescanned due to poor image quality and 13,583 were checked manually after repeated scanning failed to produce legible copies.The scale of student concern is reflected in post-result numbers. As of May 26, CBSE had received 404,319 applications seeking scanned copies of 1,131,961 Class 12 answer books — a jump of over 208% in applications and 301% in answer-book requests compared with last year.CBSE attributed the spike to a sharp fee reduction announced on May 17, cutting the cost of a scanned copy from ₹700 to ₹100 per subject.Students, parents and principals told HT the surge also reflected anxiety over evaluation quality after the board’s overall Class 12 pass percentage fell 3.19 percentage points to 85.20% — the lowest since 2019.The concerns have not been limited to aggregate pass rates. In one widely discussed case earlier reported by HT, Class 12 student Vedant Shrivastava alleged that the physics answer sheet uploaded under his roll number did not belong to him.CBSE admitted the error and later provided the correct sheet.A teacher involved in OSM evaluation told HT that Shrivastava’s answer book had likely been shifted to manual evaluation after repeated scanning attempts failed.“That is likely what happened in this case,” the teacher said. CBSE said such cases were rare, adding that it had resolved two such complaints this year.CBSE had first piloted OSM in 2014 for select Class 10 subjects across various regions and two Class 12 subjects in Delhi, but scaled it back because of scanning and connectivity limitations. Despite the current controversy, officials said at the May 17 press conference that OSM would continue for next year’s board examinations.Also Read | ‘No security breach’: CBSE clarifies after Class 12 student claims ‘vulnerabilities’ in OSM portalFormer CBSE chairperson Ashok Ganguly said the initiative was promising but had needed better preparation. “No doubt this is a good initiative but we need to be appropriately ready for this.Proper scanning, teacher training and retraining, fine-tuning of middle executives and revival of older robust systems such as the outlier mechanism are necessary to ensure credibility of the process,” he said.Several students are yet to receive their scanned copies ahead of the re-evaluation window. Ranchi-based Sartha Sidhant said he had applied over five days ago but received only two of five answer sheets requested.“I still have not received my Physics, Chemistry and Computer Science copies, and I need them to verify my answers before the re-evaluation window opens,” he said. The board’s portal for verification of marks and re-evaluation is scheduled to go live on May 29.