Campus Times | Lucknow

Thousands of CBSE Class 12 students and their parents are grappling with uncertainty after multiple discrepancies surfaced in the board’s newly introduced On-Screen Marking (OSM) evaluation system. Complaints ranging from blurred scanned copies and missing supplementary sheets to unchecked answers and mismatched answer books have raised concerns over the credibility of the evaluation process at a crucial stage of academic admissions.

Several students who accessed scanned copies of their answer sheets claimed the uploaded copies did not belong to them, while others alleged that pages containing written answers were either missing or marked blank due to poor scan quality. In some cases, students said they received zero marks despite writing correct answers.

The issue has become particularly serious for engineering aspirants who cleared JEE Main and were preparing for JEE Advanced counselling. Many students reported unexpectedly low marks in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics, pushing them below the mandatory 75 per cent eligibility criteria for admission to IITs. With counselling already underway and seats filling rapidly, affected students are now struggling to prove that their answer sheets were properly evaluated.

A senior CBSE official confirmed that one such complaint involved a student named Vedant, whose scanned Physics answer sheet reportedly contained inner pages belonging to another candidate. The board later traced the original answer sheet after the matter gained attention online.

Complaints continue even after 13 days of result declaration

Even nearly two weeks after the declaration of CBSE Class 12 results, complaints related to the OSM system continue to emerge across social media and grievance platforms.

One student alleged on social media that he was provided another student’s Physics answer sheet. In another case, a student claimed that her Mathematics supplementary booklet was entirely missing despite the front page indicating that two answer booklets had been submitted. She said nearly 16 pages of answers were absent from the scanned copy provided by the board.

Other students alleged that several answers remained unchecked and marks were not added properly. Some claimed they were denied step-by-step marking despite following the correct method prescribed in the marking scheme.

Officials from the Union Education Ministry said CBSE has been instructed to resolve complaints received through social media, helplines, email, WhatsApp and other channels on priority. A dedicated team has reportedly been assigned to monitor and address grievances, with over 100 complaints resolved in a single day.

Offline evaluation of ‘B Copies’ reveals more discrepancies

Examiners associated with the evaluation process have also flagged serious technical flaws in the digital assessment system. According to teachers, several “B copies” — supplementary answer booklets — were not scanned during the digitisation process, yet results were declared without evaluating them.

Evaluators said many such answer sheets are now being checked offline after complaints surfaced. In several cases, students reportedly gained between 15 and 25 additional marks after manual verification and reassessment of the missing answer sheets.

Apart from evaluation-related concerns, students also faced technical glitches on the CBSE post-result portal, including payment failures, inability to download scanned copies and incorrect fee displays during the verification process.

IIT experts brought in to fix technical issues

Amid mounting criticism, the Centre has constituted a technical team, including senior IIT scientists, to identify and resolve flaws in the OSM system and the post-result portal.

The team includes IIT experts Prof. Kallol Mondal and Dr. Anand Handa, along with two additional scientists from IIT Madras. The move comes after repeated complaints regarding poor scan quality and digital evaluation errors.

Teachers involved in the assessment process had earlier objected to the quality of scanned answer sheets, stating that many handwritten responses appeared unclear on screen and were wrongly treated as blank pages during evaluation.

A parent from Kanpur had also submitted a written complaint to the Prime Minister’s Office demanding withdrawal of the OSM system. IIT Kanpur Director Prof. Manindra Agrawal confirmed that the expert panel was formed following intervention from the Union Education Ministry.

According to CBSE officials, more than 3.87 lakh students applied to access over 11 lakh scanned answer sheets. So far, around 7.36 lakh copies have been shared with students, while the remaining are still being processed. The board acknowledged receiving nearly 1,000 complaints and said all verified discrepancies would be addressed in a time-bound manner.