The Ministry of Education on Sunday rejected concerns that On-Screen Marking (OSM) had impacted Class 12 CBSE exam scores, stating that the system is not new and has been used with safeguards to ensure accuracy.
School Education Secretary Sanjay Kumar addressed the issue at a press conference, saying OSM is an internationally recognised method for transparent evaluation.
He also confirmed that the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has reduced fees for re-evaluation and answer sheet verification.
On-screen marking system and evaluation process
Kumar said OSM is a standard practice used by several examination systems globally.
"The CBSE had introduced OSM in 2014. At that time, from a technical perspective, it was felt that continuing it immediately would not be feasible because of the existing infrastructure and setup. However, we have reintroduced it this year," he said.
He said the system allows greater flexibility in evaluation compared to earlier practices, where assessment was limited to regional office jurisdictions.
"Earlier, when the CBSE conducted evaluation or marking, it was generally done within the geographical jurisdiction of the respective regional offices. However, with OSM, it has now become possible to have answer sheets evaluated even outside the regional office area," he said.
He added that 98 lakh answer sheets were scanned this year, with three levels of security applied during evaluation.
Scanning issues, manual checks and fee changes
Kumar said more than 13,000 answer sheets were manually evaluated due to legibility issues, despite repeated scanning.
"In such cases, the examiners were instructed to evaluate the scripts manually and award marks accordingly. More than 13,000 such answer sheets were separately identified and manually checked. After manual evaluation, the marks obtained were entered into the system," he said.
He said some scripts had issues due to faint ink, making digital reading difficult.
He also said CBSE has significantly reduced fees: re-evaluation and verification will now cost Rs 100 instead of Rs 500-700, and per-question recheck will cost Rs 25.
"We have decided that if during re-evaluation, a student's marks increase, then the amount paid for re-evaluation will be refunded to the student," he said.
He added that students will be provided access to their scanned answer sheets for review.
Results, stakeholders and response
The CBSE declared Class 12 results on May 13, with over 85 per cent of candidates passing. The pass rate fell by more than three percentage points compared to the previous year.
Private school representatives expressed support for the reforms, including digital evaluation systems.
"CBSE-affiliated private schools across India welcome the progressive steps taken by the Ministry of Education and CBSE towards greater transparency, affordability, and technological integration in the evaluation process," said Bharat Arora, President of the Action Committee Unaided Private Recognised Schools.
He added that feedback from evaluators, schools and students should be part of future reforms, and said confidence among stakeholders is essential for examination processes.
CBSE chairperson Rahul Singh, Joint Secretary Prachi Pandey, and Controller of Examinations Sanyam Bhardwaj were also present at the briefing.