CBSE Exam Row: Pradhan, Rahul Gandhi trade barbs over OSM evaluation system

New Delhi: Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Rahul Gandhi have been engaged in a fierce public spat over the CBSE exam row, with Pradhan accusing Gandhi of politicising the issue and being frustrated, and the Congress leader hitting back, asserting that attacking him would not absolve the union minister of his "crimes". Pradhan's attack came after Gandhi alleged irregularities in the CBSE exam system and demanded an independent judicial probe and constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to unearth the truth behind the "entire scam". He also alleged that a firm with a murky past in Telangana was handed the contract by CBSE for the digital evaluation of answer books.

Targeting Gandhi, Pradhan said the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha appeared "frustrated" due to continuous electoral defeats and accused him of opposing reforms and technological progress and accused him of politicising the issue. "But as far as Rahul Gandhi is concerned, he seems to have reached a different state of mind. Due to continuous electoral defeats, he appears frustrated. He opposed SIR, he used to oppose EVMs, and he opposed Digital India. He does not seem to stand with India's scientific progress," he said.

The minister emphasised that the CBSE's actions align with the Government of India's procurement policy and assured that if any irregularities are discovered, action will be taken against those responsible. "As far as this issue is concerned, I take responsibility on behalf of the government for any inconvenience, and I request everyone that this is not the time for politics. I have said this earlier as well. Politics can be done later," he said.

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Hitting back, Gandhi said, "Dharmendra Pradhan ji, you can attack me all you want, but it won't absolve you of your crimes. Nor will it stop me from demanding answers for 18.5 lakh children." Posing a string of questions in a post on X, Gandhi asked why the CBSE OSM contract was handed to COEMPT - "a company already mired in controversy under its old name, Globarena?". "On whose orders was it done? Why were no background checks done? What is the connection between COEMPT's management and the Modi government?" Gandhi asked. "Either you ran a background check and went ahead anyway - or you didn't run one at all. Either way, you are complicit," his post read.

Gandhi asserted that if the prime minister truly cared about the situation, he should have dismissed Pradhan long ago for jeopardising the futures of countless students. In a post on X, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, "Arrogance and political dramabaazi is the best the Mantri Pradhan can come up with, even amidst the chaos he has created for lakhs of India's students and the absolute incompetence he has shown as minister." He noted that Pradhan was now training his guns on the Leader of Opposition, as he was not content with slandering the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education.

"Even while his own ministry is a den of corruption and mismanagement. His thick skin and false bravado are a great fit for the Modi-Shah brand of politics: utterly shameless and disinterested in governance. Ramesh claimed that Prime Minister Modi's "patronage" was responsible for Pradhan's arrogance. "The responsibility for the NEET-CBSE debacles is equally on the Pradhan Mantri, who has protected the Mantri even after the 2024 NTA debacle," Ramesh alleged.

Earlier, Pradhan asserted that the most important thing is that the mental stress of students and examinees should not increase. "Certain issues have come to light regarding the CBSE Class 12 examination evaluation process, and a re-evaluation process will now begin," Pradhan said.

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98 lakh answer sheets checked digitally

The minister said that around 17 lakh students appeared for the exam, and answer sheets of each student have been securely preserved. "In total, there are 98 lakh answer-sheet copies, with each copy consisting of around 40 pages, which means nearly 40 crore scanned pages were evaluated for the first time by CBSE through the OSM process," he said. Describing OSM as a "progressive and student-centric" system, he said several institutions in India and abroad are adopting such mechanisms for greater transparency in evaluation.

"Through this process, students can transparently access information about their marks, and through scanned copies, they can directly view their answer sheets. It helps address students' doubts and concerns regarding whether they received fewer or more marks, or whether any answer or section was overlooked during evaluation," he said.

Pradhan said this was the first time CBSE had implemented the system on such a large scale and acknowledged that some discrepancies had come to notice. "These issues will be resolved, and appropriate measures will be taken. We are all committed to ensuring that no student's concerns or queries go unanswered," he stated.

The CBSE has also said that its On-Screen Marking (OSM) system is backed by a "secure and robust IT platform". The Board said the platform has been "tested and certified through empanelled security audits" and is supported by a "robust digital infrastructure". Earlier, Gandhi stated that CBSE students and their parents are traumatised by the situation, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi "has nothing to say."