Intensifying its attack on the Narendra Modi government over the controversy surrounding the Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) On-Screen Marking (OSM) system, the Congress on Monday (June 1, 2026) demanded the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, saying he “epitomised arrogance and incompetence”.

The Opposition party’s criticism came after the CBSE acknowledged that there was a problem in the system, which made students’ data public.

The Congress alleged such systemic failure had jeopardised the future and mental well-being of lakhs of students.

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi accused the government of “financialising” education and criticised the cost imposed on students seeking correction of alleged evaluation errors.

Sharing a video of his interaction with students, Mr. Gandhi said the burden of rectifying mistakes made by the system had been unfairly placed on them.

“Beware of pickpockets — today, they are sitting right inside the CBSE,” he said in a post on X. “The mistake belongs to the CBSE. The punishment falls on the student. The profit goes to the government.”

Pointing to charges levied during re-evaluation — ₹100 per subject for scanned copies, ₹100 for re-totalling and ₹25 per question for re-evaluation — Mr Gandhi claimed that students could spend up to ₹2,000 merely to ensure accurate marking.

“When education is turned from a service into a business, mistakes aren’t corrected. They’re multiplied. And our children are paying the steepest price for it – with their time, their self-confidence, and their future,” Mr. Gandhi said.

Contract norms

In a separate X post, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh claimed that after “denying the cybersecurity vulnerabilities” in the OSM system for weeks, the CBSE had finally acknowledged that the system had been compromised.

Mr. Ramesh alleged that tender norms were altered to favour contractor COEMPT and questioned why the Board had removed provisions allowing blacklisting of non-performing vendors.

“This is an inexplicable, government-backed attempt to save COEMPT, and it began even before COEMPT got the contract officially,” Mr. Ramesh said on X.

Taking a swipe at the Education Minister, the Congress communication chief said, “Mantri Pradhan is the very epitome of arrogance and incompetence,” and urged him to “follow his rajdharma and resign”.

Addressing a press conference, Congress media and publicity department head Pawan Khera accused the BJP government of weakening India’s educational institutions through “12 years of blatant misrule and relentless propaganda”.

“While PM Modi continued on a personal PR spree with ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha’ and ‘Exam Warriors’, crores of young students and their parents suffer daily,” he alleged.

Flaws in system

Posing a series of questions to the Prime Minister, Mr. Khera asked why the CBSE had “ignored” warnings from teachers and experts about 36 major flaws in the digital evaluation system and why the OSM system was imposed on 18.5 lakh students within weeks.

Mr. Khera questioned the government’s attitude to the future of the students. “Is it because you need an army of uneducated and unemployed youth, who will remain illiterate and jobless, and you can make them do whatever you want them to do?” he asked, adding, “What is your enmity with the GenZ?”