Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today defended the Central Board of Secondary Education's (CBSE) newly introduced On-Screen Marking (OSM) system, describing it as a "progressive instrument" aimed at ensuring greater transparency and benefiting students.
Addressing concerns over discrepancies reported in the Class 12 evaluation process, the minister acknowledged that certain issues had surfaced and assured students that all grievances would be addressed during the ongoing re-evaluation process.
"Certain discrepancies have come to our notice, and I take responsibility for them. These issues will be rectified, and appropriate solutions will be worked out. We will not leave a single student's unanswered query or concern unresolved," Pradhan said while speaking to the media.
The minister said the OSM system enables students to transparently access details of their marks and view scanned copies of their answer sheets directly, helping them verify whether any answer or section was overlooked during evaluation.
Calling the initiative student-centric, Pradhan said many universities and educational institutions in India and abroad are gradually adopting digital evaluation systems similar to OSM.
"This is the first time CBSE has implemented this system in the country," he said.
Highlighting the scale of the evaluation exercise, the minister said nearly 17 lakh students appeared for the CBSE Class 12 examinations this year. According to him, around 98 lakh answer-book copies, comprising nearly 40 crore scanned pages, were evaluated through the OSM process for the first time.
He said all answer sheets have been securely preserved, and the re-evaluation process has now begun following complaints raised by students regarding discrepancies in marks and evaluation.
Pradhan reiterated that the government and CBSE officials are actively working to resolve all issues linked to the evaluation process and ensure that students' concerns are addressed transparently.
