New Delhi, June 2:
In a development that has intensified scrutiny of the Central Board of Secondary Education's (CBSE) digital evaluation process, 17-year-old student Sarthak Sidhant appeared before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports on Tuesday, raising serious concerns over the board's On Screen Marking (OSM) system.
Addressing the committee chaired by Congress MP Digvijaya Singh, Sidhant presented allegations of technical failures, evaluation inconsistencies and questionable tender procedures linked to the implementation of the OSM system for the 2026 Class 12 board examinations.
The student claimed that modifications in eligibility norms and tender conditions may have benefited a specific vendor associated with the project. He also highlighted numerous complaints from students, including blurry answer-sheet scans, missing pages, mismatched scripts and unexpectedly low marks following the shift to digital evaluation.
The Parliamentary Committee is currently examining the functioning of the OSM system and its impact on lakhs of students across the country. Senior CBSE officials and representatives from the Union Education Ministry have also been summoned to explain the rollout of the programme and address the concerns raised.
The controversy has sparked a broader debate over transparency, accountability and the reliability of technology-driven assessment systems in high-stakes public examinations. Student groups and education experts have demanded an independent review to ensure that evaluation processes remain fair, accurate and free from errors.
Sidhant's appearance before lawmakers is being viewed as an extraordinary moment, with a school student directly placing concerns over a national examination system before a parliamentary forum, putting CBSE's digital evaluation model under fresh public and political scrutiny.
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