CBSE chairman, secretary transferred amid on-screen marking row
By NE NOW NEWS
Guwahati: Amid mounting controversy over the Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) on-screen marking (OSM) system, the Centre has transferred CBSE Chairman Rahul Singh and Secretary Himanshu Gupta.
The Centre has also constituted a one-member committee to inquire into the procurement of services related to the OSM system introduced by the board.
The move comes in the wake of widespread complaints following the declaration of Class 12 board examination results, with students alleging discrepancies in evaluation and irregularities in the re-evaluation process.
The newly introduced OSM system has come under scrutiny after many students claimed that their scores did not match expectations. CBSE’s overall pass percentage declined to 85.29 per cent this year from 88.39 per cent last year, while the number of students scoring above 90 per cent also fell.
The controversy intensified after the post-results verification portal reportedly crashed due to a large volume of requests for scanned copies of answer scripts.
Several students who managed to access scanned copies alleged that they received blurred or incomplete pages, unmarked answers, and in some cases, answer books belonging to other students.
According to a memorandum issued by the Cabinet Secretariat, the inquiry committee will be headed by S. Radha Chauhan, Chairperson of the Capacity Building Commission.
The panel has been tasked with examining matters related to procurement of services for the OSM system by CBSE.
Chauhan has been authorised to seek assistance from officials of other departments if required, while the Capacity Building Commission will provide secretarial support to the committee.
The committee has been directed to submit its report to the Department of Personnel and Training within one month.
The memorandum has also been shared with the Department of School Education and Literacy and the Department of Personnel and Training.
Earlier in the day, the Parliamentary Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, chaired by Congress MP Digvijaya Singh, summoned senior CBSE and Ministry of School Education officials to discuss the issue.