Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday acknowledged that "some discrepancies" had surfaced in the Central Board of Secondary Education's (CBSE) first-ever large-scale digital evaluation process under the On-Screen Marking (OSM) system, confirming concerns raised over the scanning and evaluation of nearly 40 crore pages of answer sheets.
The development comes a day after NDTV reported concerns surrounding the large-scale scanning exercise carried out under the OSM process and raised questions over whether the company involved had the capacity to scan such a massive volume of answer sheets without adequate testing of the system.
Following the concerns, the minister convened a high-level meeting with CBSE officials. Two experts from IITs were also present during the meeting to review the digital evaluation mechanism and examine the complaints raised by students and education experts.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Pradhan said that since this was the first time CBSE had implemented the On-Screen Marking system on such a large scale, certain discrepancies had emerged, but assured that all errors would be rectified and no injustice would be done to students.
"It is a completely transparent process. Since it is being implemented for the first time, some discrepancies have surfaced. These will be corrected and no student will suffer injustice," the minister said.
He further stated that out of more than 17 lakh students who appeared for the CBSE Class 12 board examinations this year, nearly four lakh students had applied for scanned copies of their evaluated answer sheets.
The minister also said that expert teams from IIT Kanpur and IIT Madras have been roped in to review and strengthen the OSM process. According to him, IIT experts are examining the software coding and technical aspects of the digital evaluation system.
"I express my regret. If negligence by any individual comes to light in this matter, action will be taken against them," Pradhan said.
Referring to allegations linked to the scanning process, the minister added that strict action would be taken if any irregularity by the company involved in scanning answer sheets was found. However, he also appealed against politicising the issue.
"If any irregularity by the company involved in scanning under OSM is found, action will be taken. But Rahul Gandhi should not politicise this issue," he said.
Questions over the scale and reliability of the scanning process were first raised by Delhi-based educationist Keshav Aggarwal, who questioned whether a private company could realistically scan nearly 40 crore pages accurately within the given timeline.
According to estimates discussed by education experts, around 17 lakh students appeared for the CBSE Class 12 examinations, with each student writing multiple papers. Since most answer books contain 36 to 40 pages, along with supplementary sheets in several cases, the total number of scanned pages is estimated to have crossed 40 crore.
Several students have recently alleged discrepancies in the scanned copies of answer sheets shared with them, claiming either reduced marks or mismatched answer sheets. In one such case involving a student named Vedant, CBSE reportedly corrected an error and issued a revised scanned copy after a complaint was raised.
Former NCERT chairman RC Rajput said that since CBSE is a large institution handling examinations of lakhs of students, any error in the process should be identified and corrected promptly to maintain students' trust in the evaluation system.