New Delhi: Union Education Minister on Thursday accepted responsibility for discrepancies linked to the CBSE’s On-Screen Marking (OSM) evaluation system and assured students that strict action would be taken against anyone found responsible for irregularities. The Minister chaired a high-level meeting with CBSE officials at the board headquarters to review complaints related to Class 12 answer-sheet evaluation, re-verification and technical issues faced by students. Addressing the media after the meeting, Pradhan stated that nearly 17 lakh students appeared for the examinations and around 98 lakh answer sheets, amounting to almost 40 crore scanned pages, were processed under the newly introduced digital evaluation system.

The Minister described the OSM process as a globally accepted and student-centric system aimed at increasing transparency in examinations, but admitted that several discrepancies had surfaced during its first implementation. He assured students and parents that every complaint would be investigated seriously and no concern would be ignored. To resolve technical issues, experts from and have reportedly been brought in to assist the CBSE technical team in reviewing the software infrastructure. The government has also integrated payment gateways of major public sector banks including SBI, Bank of Baroda, Indian Bank and Canara Bank with the CBSE portal after students faced problems during the re-evaluation payment process.

The controversy intensified after several Class 12 students alleged major inconsistencies in their evaluated answer sheets and claimed that uploaded scanned copies did not match their handwriting, raising concerns over possible answer-sheet mismatches in the system. Congress leader had earlier demanded an independent judicial inquiry and a Special Investigation Team probe into the alleged irregularities, calling it a serious scam affecting students’ futures. Responding sharply, Pradhan accused Rahul Gandhi of opposing technological reforms and claimed the Congress leader was frustrated due to repeated electoral defeats. Despite the political confrontation, the Education Minister stressed that student welfare and reducing academic stress should remain the top priority, while the CBSE maintained that its OSM platform is secure, audited and backed by multiple digital safeguards and quality checks.