Did CBSE overlook calls for regional trials before rolling out OSM?

CBSE’s digital evaluation push is facing fresh scrutiny. At the centre of the debate is a question with far-reaching implications: did the board move ahead with its on-screen marking (OSM) reform before adequately testing it?

The issue is particularly significant because it concerns the Class 12 board examination, a high-stakes milestone that can shape admissions, careers and futures. Any disruption in evaluation leaves students in a difficult position, with uncertainty extending far beyond result day.

Deepening the debate around the rollout, a Hindustan Times report has revealed that internal suggestions to first conduct regional pilot projects were made before the nationwide implementation.

GOVERNING BODY ADVISED REGIONAL PILOT PROJECTS

According to minutes of a governing body meeting reviewed in the report, members had recommended that the OSM system “may be implemented in all subjects only after completion of pilot projects in some subjects across various regional offices of the board.”

The recommendation was reportedly taken on record, but no region-wise pilot exercise was conducted before implementation.

Instead, CBSE carried out a limited two-day dry run in January involving around 100 teachers from five schools in Delhi before moving ahead with the nationwide rollout.

The board formally announced implementation of OSM on February 9, shortly before the Class 12 board examinations began on February 17.

TEACHERS FLAGGED LACK OF PREPARATION

Teachers who participated in the dry run reportedly advised officials against immediate large-scale implementation, arguing that the system required greater refinement, training and preparation time.

One teacher associated with both the trial exercise and live evaluation process said OSM required “at least a year or two of proper training” before rollout.

According to the evaluator, many teachers entered the live evaluation process from March 7 without sufficient familiarity with the software and effectively learnt the system while assessing actual answer scripts.

CBSE later organised demonstrations, webinars and mock evaluations, but several principals and evaluators reportedly viewed those sessions as procedural exercises rather than comprehensive training for a major shift in evaluation methodology.

TECHNICAL ISSUES AND EARLY WARNINGS OVER OSM

The OSM rollout later became the subject of criticism among evaluators, students and parents.

Concerns ranged from poor-quality answer-sheet scans and incorrect marking entries to fears that answer books may have been mixed up during the process.

CBSE officials later acknowledged initial technical issues linked to the platform, including login problems, server overload and scanning deficiencies.

Of the 9,866,622 answer books evaluated this year, 68,018 reportedly required rescanning due to poor image quality.

Another 13,583 answer books had to be manually checked after repeated scanning attempts failed to generate readable copies.

The issue also drew attention after Class 12 student Vedant Shrivastava alleged that the physics answer sheet uploaded under his roll number did not belong to him.

CBSE later acknowledged the error and provided the correct answer sheet. A teacher associated with the OSM process indicated that the answer book was likely moved to manual evaluation after repeated scanning failures.

EARLIER CONCERNS HAD ALREADY SURFACED

Concerns surrounding the system had emerged even before the larger controversy gained momentum.

A senior teacher from a Delhi-based DAV school had earlier told indiatoday.tech that the newly introduced On-Screen Marking (OSM) system was facing repeated glitches and was slowing the evaluation process instead of making it faster.

According to the teacher, the technical disruptions were affecting the pace of answer-sheet checking despite OSM being introduced to improve efficiency.

The concerns had triggered discussions around CBSE’s digital evaluation reform, which was expected to make result processing faster, more transparent and operationally efficient.

However, the implementation challenges reported during the evaluation cycle have now renewed questions over whether the transition was introduced before the system was fully prepared for nationwide use.

SHARP RISE IN ANSWER-SHEET REQUESTS

The concerns coincided with a significant increase in requests from students seeking scanned copies of evaluated answer sheets.

As of May 26, CBSE had reportedly received 404,319 applications requesting access to 1,131,961 Class 12 answer books.

The figures marked an increase of more than 208 per cent in applications and over 301 per cent in answer-book requests compared with the previous year.

While CBSE attributed the surge to the reduction in fees for scanned copies from ?700 to ?100 per subject, students, parents and school principals reportedly linked the rise partly to concerns surrounding evaluation quality.

The increase also came as the overall Class 12 pass percentage declined by 3.19 percentage points to 85.20 per cent — the lowest level since 2019.

A QUESTION OF PREPAREDNESS AND ACCOUNTABILITY

The debate surrounding OSM is not an argument against technological reform. Digitisation can improve efficiency, transparency and consistency in evaluation systems.

However, the controversy has reignited concerns over implementation without extensive testing.

CBSE’s own governing body had reportedly suggested pilot projects across regional offices before wider deployment. Yet the system was ultimately rolled out after a two-day exercise involving around 100 teachers.

For stakeholders, this remains the central concern: whether a reform affecting nearly 22 lakh students each year received the level of preparation such a transition demanded.

The questions now extend beyond technical glitches and scanning errors. They touch on institutional readiness, accountability and confidence in a system that carries enormous consequences.

For students whose futures often hinge on board examination results, the evaluation process cannot become a real-time experiment.