CBSE begins re-evaluation after OSM row, some complaints persist

THe telephone exchange room of Secondary breeding (CBSE) on mon began the re-evaluation of division 12 answer scripts entirely through its own portal. Teachers and officials involved in the exercise described the new system as “smoother and more secure” than Coempt Edu Teck’s OnMark platform, which was dropped by the board last month. However, some students complained that they were still unable to receive scanned copies of their answer scripts, leaving them unable to seek re-evaluation.According to CBSE data, between June 2 and 7, over 160,000 students submitted requests for verification and question-wise objections relating to more than 380,000 answer books – amounting to roughly 35% of the 1.1 million scanned copies sought by students. Between May 19 and 25, more than 400,000 out of nearly 1.8 million Class 12 students applied for over 1.1 million scanned copies of answer scripts.Also Read: Delhi HC seeks response from Centre, CBSE on petition of NSUI in OSM marking matterTeachers involved in the re-evaluation process told HT that evaluators are shown only the specific questions flagged by students for re-evaluation. Examiners are reviewing scanned answer scripts and awarding marks strictly in accordance with CBSE’s marking scheme. They are not shown the marks awarded by the original evaluator, and assess each challenged question independently after reading the grounds cited by the student.A mathematics teacher from Ghaziabad, involved in the exercise, said the review process was being carried out by multiple evaluators to ensure fairness.“Two teachers are checking the objections raised by students regarding the marking of each question. We were able to log in to CBSE’s new OSM portal easily and are smoothly carrying out the process of re-checking and awarding marks wherever students deserve them,” the teacher said.HT had reported on June 6 that CBSE had discontinued the use of Coempt’s OnMark platform for the re-evaluation process amid concerns over the security of student and examination data, with the information migrated to infrastructure under the board’s direct control.Also Read: Over 1.6 lakh candidates applied for post-result services: CBSEThe re-evaluation process, under which subject experts examine answers challenged by students, is now being carried out through CBSE’s own on-screen marking (OSM) portal developed with the help of experts from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras and IIT Kanpur.An official told HT earlier, the new portal was developed on the same codebase used by Coempt on servers the board now controls directly. The board had earlier used Coempt’s OnMark to digitally evaluate nearly 10 million Class 12 answer scripts before declaring results on May 13.An IT head at a re-evaluation centre in Delhi said the new system had addressed many of the operational difficulties encountered earlier.“CBSE’s own OSM system is better, stronger, smoother and safer than Coempt’s OnMark platform. We are not facing the issues that we experienced earlier. Questions in more than 750 answer copies across different subjects were examined at our centre on a single day,” the IT head of the centre said.CBSE’s OSM portal was developed with the assistance of a four-member expert team from IIT Madras and IIT Kanpur, comprising specialists in computer systems, cybersecurity and examination processes. The team was deputed after Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan directed the institutes on May 24 to assist CBSE.Also Read: 'Was busy exposing you': Teen investigator Sarthak Sidhant to CBSE for re-evaluation deadline extensionA senior IIT Kanpur official said the new platform, though built on Coempt’s underlying codebase, had been extensively modified and subjected to rigorous security testing.“We have strengthened the code and made the platform more resilient against vulnerabilities. During our assessment of the OnMark platform of Coempt, we identified several security vulnerabilities. In contrast, a dedicated ‘red team’ tasked with attempting to breach the CBSE’s re-evaluation portal could not identify any significant vulnerabilities,” the official said.The new OSM system of CBSE was tested using a “red team-blue team” model. While the blue team — comprising CBSE developers, experts from IIT Madras and the Digital India Corporation — worked to strengthen the software, a red team of experts from IIT Kanpur attempted to identify weaknesses and break into the system.The official said it was technically feasible for CBSE to eventually develop and operate a fully independent OSM platform, “but doing so would require a dedicated in-house team responsible for continuous maintenance, upgrades and security management.”Jyoti Arora, principal of Delhi-based Mount Abu Public School said, “Given the scale and sensitivity of data, an in-house OSM platform would ensure greater security and transparency. It will provide long-term sustainability and stronger alignment with CBSE’s educational and technological vision, while reducing dependence on any external service providers.”HT had on June 6 reported that the cybersecurity certificates the Central Board of Secondary Education accepted as proof that its controversial on-screen marking (OSM) platform was safe to process close to 10 million student answer scripts covered a different client’s deployment of the same software tested on a pre-production staging environment, and, in one case, was nearly two years old when submitted, a review of documents by HT has found.Despite the smoother functioning reported by evaluators, some students say problems persist.Anup Kumar Singh, a Class 12 student from Delhi, said he never received scanned copies of his answer scripts despite making the required payment.“I could not get my scanned copies of any subject even after making the payment. I repeatedly posted on social media and emailed CBSE about the issue but got no response. How could I have applied for re-evaluation without receiving my copy?” he said.Several students have raised similar complaints online, alleging that delays in receiving scanned answer books prevented them from filing question-wise challenges within the prescribed deadline.CBSE officials did not respond to HT’s queries for a comment.