CBSE OSM Row Deepens: NSUI moves Delhi HC, student Sarthak Sidhant appears before parliamentary panel

The controversy surrounding the Central Board of Secondary Education's (CBSE) On-Screen Marking (OSM) system intensified today as the Congress party's student wing, the National Students' Union of India (NSUI), approached the Delhi High Court seeking an independent inquiry into alleged irregularities in the digital evaluation process. Class 12 student Sarthak Sidhant appeared before a parliamentary standing committee to present his findings on OSM tendering process.

The public interest litigation (PIL), filed by NSUI, seeks a court-monitored investigation into the implementation of the OSM system used by CBSE for evaluating Class 12 answer sheets. The petition demands manual rechecking and physical verification of answer books of students who claim to be affected by discrepancies in evaluation process. Delhi High Court vacation bench is expected to hear the matter on June 8.

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NSUI said concerns over the OSM system increased after students reported blurred answer-sheet scans, mismatched copies and technical glitches while accessing their evaluated answer books. The student body also argued that the current grievance system is inadequate, and offers only limited options for students to challenge errors.

The plea cited CBSE's acknowledgement of technical issues on its portal and shared that approximately 1,27,146 applications concerning 3,87,399 scanned answer books were received shortly after release of Class 12 results. According to NSUI, high number of applications reflects concern among students and parents regarding reliability of the evaluation process.

'Extend re-evaluation deadline'

The petition further seeks directions to keep the verification and revaluation portal open for atleast a month. It also calls for establishment of safeguards and protocols for future digital evaluation systems. It also seeks compensatory marks for students whose answer sheets were allegedly blurred, missing or affected by technical failures.

Sarthak Sidhant, a Class 12 student from Jharkhand whose blog on CBSE's OSM tender process gained national attention, appeared before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports. Sidhant presented his analysis of multiple CBSE tender documents related to the OSM project.

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In his blog as well as public statements, he alleged that several eligibility and performance criteria were altered across successive tender rounds. He identified around 15 discrepancies, including changes to clauses related to poor performance, blacklisting provisions, financial qualification requirements, CMMI certification levels and project eligibility criteria.

Speaking ahead of the committee meeting, Sidhant said he hoped his findings would encourage greater transparency in public procurement and educational evaluation systems.

"I think OSM is a good change, but there should be wide rollouts first and good demo pilots," he said.

CBSE has previously rejected allegations of irregularities in the tender process and maintained that all procurement procedures were carried out in accordance with established government norms.