New Delhi- A heartfelt cry from a devastated CBSE Class 12 student has captured national attention amid the ongoing controversy surrounding the board’s new On-Screen Marking (OSM) system. Tanmay Kashyap, pained by the suicide of his close friend after disappointing results, penned emotional letters to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, pleading for intervention to save the futures of lakhs of affected students.
In his letter to President Murmu, Tanmay wrote:
“Respected Madam,
I am a CBSE Class 12 student writing this with a shattered heart and tears that refuse to stop. For two years I gave my blood, sweat and every single night to studies. But CBSE's new OSM (On-Screen Marking) system has destroyed everything. Answer sheets are blurry and unreadable, the revaluation portal keeps crashing for days, payments fail repeatedly, students are being overcharged huge amounts, hackers have targeted the site, and deadlines are extended but nothing works. Lakhs of sincere students like me have failed in multiple subjects despite our best efforts. I lost my close friend to suicide after seeing his marks. He couldn't bear the pain. Many more students are having severe emotional breakdowns and attempting the same. Families are crying day and night. Our JEE, NEET and college dreams are completely crushed. Madam, we are your children. We are not just roll numbers. Please intervene and save us. Kindly direct the authorities to award grace marks of 15-20 in all subjects this year for students affected by this OSM crisis. This will give hope and save 50-60% of us from ruin. We have nowhere else to go. Please listen to our cry for justice. With folded hands and a broken heart, A devastated CBSE Class 12 Student of India.”
A similar post addressed to Prime Minister Modi echoed these sentiments, urging immediate action as “we have nowhere else to go.”
While general dissatisfaction grew after the results were declared in mid-May 2026, the specific "answer sheet mismatch" controversy was brought to public attention by a student named Vedant Shrivastava.
Vedant publicly shared his concerns on social media (X) after receiving his Physics marks. Upon applying for a copy of his answer book, he noticed that the handwriting and answers did not belong to him. His viral posts triggered a massive debate and encouraged other students to share their own experiences with blurred or incorrect copies, ultimately forcing the board to investigate.
In 2023, out of 16,60,511 students who appeared for examination, 14,50,174 passed, achieving a pass percentage of 87.33. In 2024, the pass percentage stood at 87.98 per cent, an increase of 0.65 per cent. However, within that time, around 20 thousand fewer students appeared for the exam. In 2025, the pass percentage yet again saw a jump of 0.41 per cent, registering at 88.39 per cent.
However, in 2026, a sharp decline was seen in the passing percentage of students, with the overall percentage dropping down to 85.20 per cent. This was also the year in which the CBSE introduced the new OSM system.
The On-Screen Marking (OSM) system is a digital evaluation process where physical answer sheets are scanned at designated centres and uploaded to a secure central server. Trained examiners then evaluate the scanned copies online using computers, following a structured marking scheme. CBSE states that the system promotes greater accuracy, transparency, uniformity in evaluation, and reduces human errors in totaling and tabulation. It was first piloted in 2014 but faced technical limitations at the time. For the 2026 Class 12 examinations, CBSE implemented it on a full scale for nearly 98 lakh answer sheets from over 17 lakh students.
1. Digitization: After students take their exams, the answer booklets are collected and transported to designated regional offices. There, they are scanned using high-resolution scanners to create digital images of every page.
2. Anonymization: Each digital script is assigned a unique, encrypted code to ensure the student's identity remains anonymous to the examiner.
3. Digital Evaluation: Authorized examiners log into a secure CBSE portal using their credentials. They view the scanned answer sheets on their computer monitors.
4. Marking: Examiners use digital tools to mark answers directly on the screen according to a standardized marking scheme uploaded to the system. The system automatically totals the marks, which is intended to prevent the manual calculation or "totaling" errors that sometimes occur in physical evaluation.
5. Quality Check: The system allows for easier random moderation and review by senior evaluators, as the digital copies can be instantly shared or pulled for verification.
The CBSE implemented OSM with the goal of modernizing the assessment process by:
Improving Speed: By eliminating the need to physically ship thousands of paper bundles across the country, the board aimed to speed up the evaluation process and declare results faster.
Reducing Human Error: Manual addition of marks is prone to human error; the automated digital calculation was meant to ensure accuracy.
Increasing Transparency: Every action taken by an examiner from the marks assigned to any comments made, is recorded in the system, creating a digital audit trail.
Environmental Efficiency: The system is intended to reduce the use of paper and the carbon footprint associated with transporting physical scripts.
Broader Participation: It allows qualified teachers from various locations (including international CBSE-affiliated schools) to participate in the evaluation process remotely, provided they have the required technical infrastructure.
Following the declaration of results in mid-May 2026, students across India reported widespread issues, including blurry and unreadable scans, mismatched answer sheets with different handwriting, missing pages, and uncredited answers. Students reported receiving PDFs of answer sheets with handwriting that did not match their own, such as in Physics cases where roll numbers were allegedly mismatched. Others highlighted unchecked answers, missing pages in scans, and portal crashes during re-evaluation applications. One student noted, "Even we can’t read them," while sharing blurry PDFs online.
The revaluation and verification portal experienced repeated crashes, payment failures, and overcharging, leading to extended deadlines. Over four lakh students roughly one in four examinees applied for scanned copies, causing system overload.
The overall pass percentage dropped from 88.39% in 2025 to approximately 85.20% in 2026. One Class 12 science stream student from Delhi, who cleared JEE Mains with a high percentile, expressed shock at scoring below 75% in boards despite strong preparation. Another from Rajasthan described family distress and crushed dreams for competitive exams. Multiple students shared similar experiences.
Many students and parents have described severe emotional distress, anxiety, family breakdowns, and crushed aspirations for higher education and competitive exams. Isolated cases of student suicides linked to result-related stress have been reported, though official investigations into direct causation continue.
Critics, including reports citing governing body minutes, point out that CBSE proceeded with the mass rollout despite internal reservations. In a June 2025 governing body meeting, members had suggested implementing OSM in all subjects “only after completion of pilot projects in some subjects across various regional offices of the board.”
Instead, the board conducted a limited two-day exercise involving only about 100 teachers at five Delhi schools in January 2026. Some participating teachers reportedly advised against full implementation, citing the need for better features, more extensive training, and additional time for adaptation. This high-stakes examination, which shapes the future of around 22 lakh students annually, moved forward without broader regional pilots.
The CBSE has maintained a consistent defensive stance regarding the 2026 Class 12 On-Screen Marking (OSM) system. Their official position centers on three main pillars: systemic integrity, the denial of security breaches, and the reliability of redressal mechanisms.
CBSE defended the OSM system as an improvement aimed at objectivity and efficiency. In statements, the board noted enhanced scanning processes, quality checks, secure infrastructure, and teacher training. It emphasized that OSM is widely used internationally and focuses on conceptual understanding while adhering strictly to marking schemes.
CBSE said that certain social media posts showed Class 12th students being " anxious about their results/marks and are attributing it to change of assessment scheme." The Board has reiterated that the "key benefits" of OSM are "uniformity in evaluation with adherence to the marking scheme prepared by experienced CBSE teachers."
CBSE Controller of Examinations Sanyam Bhardwaj, while speaking on the Class 12 examination stated, "The CBSE is an institution that works in the best interest of students, and we operate with complete transparency. We evaluate approximately 1.25 crore answer scripts; there is a possibility that an error may occur somewhere. To rectify such errors, we offer certain facilities to our students," Bhardwaj said.
The board urged students to use the available redressal mechanisms like verification of marks, access to evaluated answer books, and re-evaluation. In response to complaints, CBSE reduced fees for answer sheet copies to ₹100, committed to refunds for failed or excess payments, and extended deadlines. Specific mismatch cases are being handled on priority. Controller of Examinations Sanyam Bhardwaj highlighted the system’s transparency and the availability of error-correction avenues.
Following claims by a 19-year-old cybersecurity researcher (Nisarga Adhikary) that the OSM portal was vulnerable to hacking and impersonation, the CBSE issued a firm rebuttal. The Board clarified that the URL cited in the allegations (cbse.onmark.co.in) was merely an "internal testing platform" containing only sample data.
Security of Actual Portal: CBSE stated that the actual, operational evaluation portal used for board exams bears a completely different URL and remains secure. They explicitly denied that any "actual evaluation data, marks, or confidential student information" were compromised or held on the site identified by the researcher.
Rejection of Vulnerabilities: The Board asserted that no security breaches have come to light on the portal deployed for the official evaluation work.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has taken serious cognizance of the issues. He directed CBSE to submit a detailed report on technical glitches, server problems, payment failures, and operational lapses. Pradhan deputed technical experts from IIT Madras and IIT Kanpur to assist the board and held meetings with public sector banks to strengthen the payment gateway system. “The government is looking into it in detail. I am confident that with the guidance of IIT Madras and IIT Kanpur, it will be resolved,” Pradhan told media persons. School Education Secretary Sanjay Kumar acknowledged some scanning challenges with light ink but defended OSM as a step toward modernization.
As re-evaluation processes continue, authorities are working on technical improvements while students and families await further resolutions. The situation has sparked a broader national conversation on the implementation of digital assessment tools in critical examinations.
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