CBSE must win back the trust reposed in it by millions | Photo Credit: ANI

The CBSE’s shift to digital evaluation of answer sheets has turned out to be a profound debacle. The on-screen marking (OSM) system, used for the first time, has been badly shown up — with complaints of poorly scanned answer sheets, mismatched roll numbers, missing supplementary sheets and an ethical hacker’s claims that he could easily have broken into the system and tampered with anyone’s marks, if he wanted.

First, it is important to underscore that two million students and their wards have been put through untold trauma, for which immediate steps need to be taken. Even as a committee comprising faculty of IIT Madras and IIT Kanpur looks into how OSM unravelled, it would perhaps be best for the CBSE to proceed with traditional offline revaluation of answer sheets. A delay by, say, a month or more is unfortunate, but students would at least be left with a feeling that the result was derived through a familiar process, rather than one whose flaws needed fixing. As with the NEET exam leak, the CBSE fiasco throws up grave questions of accountability and credibility in the examination system. Besides taking remedial steps, accountability should extend to the highest levels.

OSM was expected to ensure efficient checking of answer sheets, so that their transportation to those meant to check them can be avoided. It allows students to see how they have been evaluated. Indeed, it is hard to argue against OSM if it is carried out properly. But it breaks down entirely, if even a few roll numbers are mixed up or answer sheets are not properly scanned. The committee members have said that they will examine the possibility of a cyber attack, or the website collapsing under excessive traffic. But it seems that the OSM software was flawed to begin with. The ethical hacker has claimed that he could access the innards of the portal, because a master password that could bypass authentication was hardwired into the code. It is appalling that a master password is embedded into the software. Developers tend to do it temporarily, when building a system. But to take the system live without removing these backdoors smacks of gross negligence.

The vendor, Coempt EduTeck, involved in the OSM system, is in the eye of the storm. In its earlier avatar as Globarena Technologies, it had faced allegations of discrepancies in the Telangana Board’s Intermediate exams in 2019. The selection of this vendor raises eyebrows. It is inexplicable that the system was deployed without adequate testing. Teachers were allowed to experience the system in February, but many came away hoping the system would not go live this year. The ethical hacker’s claims — that his alerts issued three months back weren’t fully addressed — smacks of apathy. CBSE’s response that the hacker accessed only the ‘test portal’ is reactive and disappointing. The CBSE should take a year or two to conduct extensive ‘dry runs’ and then redeploy the system. Above all, it must win back the trust reposed in it by millions.

Published on May 27, 2026