Amid Concerns Over CBSE's OSM System, Education Ministry Defends it as 'Transparent', 'Used Internationally'

New Delhi: While students and parents have expressed concerns over the new 'on-screen marking (OSM)' system of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to evaluate Class 12 answer sheets, the Union education ministry on Sunday (May 17) defended it saying it will improve transparency in the system.

The CBSE Class 12 results were declared on May 13, following which many students, teachers and parents raised concerns over unexpectedly low marks, especially in subjects like Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Mathematics, alleging that it is because of the OSM system, a digital checking process, that replaced the earlier traditional paper checking method.

While over 85% candidates cleared the exams, overall, the pass rate dipped by over 3 percentage points compared to the previous year.

At a press conference in Delhi, Union Secretary of School Education Sanjay Kumar and CBSE chairman Rahul Singh said that OSM aimed to improve transparency of the system and that students could go for revaluation at a reduced cost. They defended the OSM method listing a number of reasons, the main being the “flexibility” it provides.

Kumar said that the system was already being followed by various national universities, educational institutions, and many foreign universities, as well as the International Baccalaureate (IB) and Cambridge boards. “In fact, it has become a norm internationally, because through technology, it enables us to conduct the entire system more transparently,” he said, as quoted by news agency PTI.

He also said that while earlier evaluations had to be done within the geographical jurisdiction of the respective regional offices, with OSM, “it has now become possible to have answer sheets evaluated even outside the regional office area”.

Singh noted that the CBSE had first introduced OSM in 2014. The scanning infrastructure at the time was such that answer books could not be scanned without cutting open the books, resulting in answer sheets getting mixed up, he said, as per The Indian Express.

“Now we have a technology where the entire answer book can be scanned in one go without cutting it open at the spine…We were also more confident of the availability of digital infrastructure in our schools…The quality of software has gone up, and availability of teachers who are exposed to digital media, either through computers or mobile phones…all things considered, we thought it was a fit time to go for OSM,” he added.

According to a report by The Hindu, when asked if any study was conducted before launching the new system, the officials said the only change in the system was that evaluators, rather than evaluating hard copies of the answer sheets, were doing the marking process on-screen. 

The officials informed that 98 lakh answer sheets were scanned for Class 12, with three levels of security during the process. Out of them, more than 13,000 were manually checked due to some legibility issues despite repeated scanning of these sheets. “It was found that despite repeated scanning, there were still some legibility issues because the ink used in some answer sheets was of a very light colour. Even after scanning, those scripts could not be made fully legible,” Kumar said, as quoted by the daily.

The officials further said that the CBSE has reduced the fee for viewing mark sheets from Rs 700 to Rs 100. “The CBSE has decided this time that if students wish to view their answer sheets, they can do so by paying a fee of Rs 100 instead of Rs 700. If they want verification or validation of the answer sheet, that too will cost Rs 100 instead of Rs 500. If they want any particular answer rechecked, the fee will be Rs 25 per question,” Kumar said, as per PTI.

If a student’s marks increase in the re-evaluation process, the CBSE will refund the amount, he added.

According to the agency, some private school representatives have backed the broader reform measures introduced by the CBSE, including the OSM system.

“Schools and teachers worked extensively this year to ensure smooth implementation of digital evaluation systems. Going forward, structured feedback from evaluators, schools, and students must become an integral part of future reforms. Ultimately, the success of any examination reform rests on the collective confidence and preparedness of teachers, schools, and learners,” Bharat Arora, President of the Action Committee Unaided Private Recognised Schools, told PTI.

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