New Delhi, May 28 (H.S.): Amid concerns being raised over the Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) On-Screen Marking (OSM) system, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday strongly defended the system, stating that it is being adopted by several countries across the world. He assured students and parents that no injustice would be allowed against any student.

Speaking to reporters after a high-level review meeting with senior CBSE officials and technical experts at the CBSE headquarters, Pradhan said, “CBSE has implemented this system for the first time. Certain discrepancies have come to our notice. I take responsibility for them. Solutions will be found, and all of us are working towards resolving the issues.”

Pradhan stated that the government has taken major steps to address technical and payment-related problems. These include deploying teams of directors and expert professors from IIT Kanpur and IIT Madras to examine the entire technology framework, coding structure, and software system. Additionally, to resolve difficulties being faced by students in fee payments, the payment gateways of four major public sector banks — SBI, Indian Bank, Bank of Baroda, and Canara Bank — have been integrated with the CBSE portal in coordination with the Ministry of Finance.

Presenting the scale of the system, the minister said that nearly 17 lakh students appeared for the examinations, generating around 98 lakh answer sheets. With an average of 40 pages per answer sheet, nearly 40 crore pages were scanned. So far, approximately four lakh students have downloaded nearly 11 lakh scanned answer sheets and are reviewing them. He assured that not a single student’s evaluation issue would be left unresolved.

The minister said that the objective of the OSM system is to provide students with transparency by allowing them access to their answer sheets so they can review their marks and raise objections if necessary.

Responding sharply to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s allegations regarding irregularities in the allocation of the digital evaluation contract and his demand for a judicial inquiry, the Education Minister said Rahul Gandhi has become frustrated due to repeated electoral defeats. He added that Gandhi had earlier opposed Rafale, EVMs, and Digital India, and accused him of not supporting India’s scientific progress.

Pradhan said, “CBSE clarified yesterday itself, in a responsible manner, that the contract was awarded strictly in accordance with the Government of India’s procurement policy. Even then, if any irregularity is found — whether inside or outside CBSE — no one will be spared. We are all accountable in a democracy.”

The minister further said, “This is not the time for politics. The interests of our 17 lakh children are paramount. This controversy has already increased students’ mental stress. Therefore, through our words and actions, we should avoid adding to their anxiety. I assure students that this entire digital re-evaluation process will be fully streamlined.”

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar