New Delhi | Cracking the whip, the government on Tuesday removed two top CBSE officials following alleged irregularities in the Class 12 digital evaluation system and ordered a probe by a high-powered committee to investigate how the national educational board procured these marking services.
Their replacements were announced late in the evening.
Simultaneously, a 17-year-old student from Jharkhand affected by the CBSE's online marking system, appeared before a parliamentary panel where he pointed out the anomalies in the tendering process of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to select venders for online marking and put forth a set of questions for the board.
Sarthak Sidhant, who himself appeared in the board examination, presented a seven-page copy of his findings before the Parliamentary Committee for Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, chaired by Congress MP Digvijaya Singh.
The CBSE, meanwhile, said "malicious actors" attempted to disrupt services on its re-evaluation portal through a barrage of cyberattacks, including a denial-of-service attack that caused 1.5 million hits on the platform within two minutes and more than one lakh attempts at unauthorised file access.
The CBSE engulfed into a controversy after some class 12 students alleged that the scanned copies of their answer sheets uploaded by the board did not match their handwriting, raising concerns over possible answer-sheet mismatch in the On-Screen Marking (OSM) system.
CBSE chairman Rahul Singh and secretary Himanshu Gupta were transferred and were replaced by senior bureaucrats Lokhande Prashant Sitaram and Varun Bhardwaj respectively.
Subsequently, the Cabinet Secretariat through a memorandum announced constitution of a one-member committee to inquire into matters relating to the procurement of services for the on-screen marking system by the CBSE.
The committee will be chaired by S Radha Chauhan, chairperson, Capacity Building Commission, the Cabinet Secretariat said.
Chauhan has been empowered to obtain the assistance of officials from other departments, as required, while the Capacity Building Commission will provide secretarial assistance to the panel.
The committee will submit its report to the Department of Personnel and Training within one month.
The memorandum addressed to Chauhan was shared with the Department of School Education and Literacy, and the Department of Personnel and Training.
Concerns were raised by students and parents over the implementation of the OSM system in the CBSE board examination process.
The board has faced criticism over technical glitches, payment failures and delays in the verification and re-evaluation process, prompting demands for greater transparency and accountability.
Sarthak's presentation to the parliamentary panel was made in the presence of Rahul Singh, before he was shunted out of the CBSE chairmanship, and Secretary, School Education, Sanjay Kumar, along with other officials of the Ministry of Education and the board.
The CBSE handed over a report to the panel members, presenting their side on the problems faced by students, and assured the MPs that the glitches that appeared on its portal have since been rectified and students now have time till June 6 to apply for re-evaluation of their answersheets.
Amid the row over the CBSE's OSM system, the committee had summoned top officials of the board and the Ministry of School Education to discuss the issue of using OSM in the Class 12 board exams and the problems faced by students consequently.
The panel also discussed applying the three-language formula in Classes 9 and 10 with the education ministry officials.
On whether he was satisfied with the CBSE's replies, panel chairman Digvijaya Singh said, "That is for the committee to decide."
He did not respond to the three-language formula issue either, saying, "I believe the matter is sub-judice."
"The committee has always been looking at the issues of students and their problems. This is exactly what the committee has done," Singh told reporters when asked about the meeting.
Meanwhile, the CBSE said "malicious actors" attempted to disrupt services on its re-evaluation portal through a barrage of cyberattacks, including a denial-of-service attack that caused 1.5 million hits on the platform within two minutes and more than one lakh attempts at unauthorised file access.
The board said the portal is currently supporting over 8,000 concurrent users, and more than 16,000 students have successfully completed their submissions as of 3 pm.
"While thousands of students accessed the CBSE re-evaluation portal today, malicious actors attempted to disrupt services through a barrage of cyberattacks," the board said on X.
"The most recent being a denial of service attack attempt causing 1.5 million hits on the portal within a matter of 2 minutes and more than 1 lakh attempts of unauthorised file access," it added.
Based on student feedback, the CBSE said it has further refined the platform, including extending session time limits, to make the process more convenient and seamless.
New Delhi | The Centre has formed a one-member committee to inquire into matters relating to the procurement of services for the on-screen marking system by the CBSE.
The committee will be chaired by S Radha Chauhan, Chairperson, Capacity Building Commission, a memorandum issued by the Cabinet Secretariat said on Tuesday.
Chauhan has been empowered to obtain the assistance of officials from other departments, as required, while the Capacity Building Commission will provide secretarial assistance to the panel.
The committee will submit its report to the Department of Personnel and Training within one month.
The memorandum addressed to Chauhan was shared with the Department of School Education and Literacy, and the Department of Personnel and Training.
The move comes amid students and parents raising concerns over the implementation of the on-screen marking (OSM) system in CBSE’s board examinations.
The board has faced criticism over technical glitches, payment failures and delays in its verification and re-evaluation process, prompting demands for greater transparency and accountability.
New Delhi | The CBSE on Tuesday said "malicious actors" attempted to disrupt services on its re-evaluation portal through a barrage of cyberattacks, including a denial-of-service attack that caused 1.5 million hits on the platform within two minutes and more than one lakh attempts at unauthorised file access.
The board said the portal is currently supporting over 8,000 concurrent users, and more than 16,000 students have successfully completed their submissions as of 3 pm.
"While thousands of students accessed the CBSE re-evaluation portal today, malicious actors attempted to disrupt services through a barrage of cyberattacks," the board said on X.
"The most recent being a denial of service attack attempt causing 1.5 million hits on the portal within a matter of 2 minutes and more than 1 lakh attempts of unauthorised file access," it added.
Based on student feedback, the CBSE said it has further refined the platform, including extending session time limits, to make the process more convenient and seamless.
"Our teams remain vigilant and responsive to ensure our dearest students are facilitated in all ways possible," the board said.
Earlier in the day, the CBSE opened the online portal for verification of issues observed in scanned copies of answer books and re-evaluation of answers for students dissatisfied with their board exam evaluation.
According to the board, the facility is available only to those students who have obtained scanned copies of their evaluated answer books.
"The portal for applying for verification of issues observed in supplied scanned copy of answer book and re-evaluation of answers has been made live on June 2, 2026. Students can avail the facility of verification of issue(s) observed in supplied scanned copy of answer book, if any and re-evaluation of answer(s) if not satisfied with the evaluation," the CBSE said.
The portal will remain open from June 2 to June 6 (midnight), and no offline applications or requests submitted after the deadline will be accepted.
Students will have to log in through the CBSE website using their Aadhaar number and submit applications online. The board said the entire process, including payment of fees, will be conducted digitally.
For verification of issues in scanned copies of answer books, students can report concerns such as missing pages, missing supplementary sheets, missing maps or graphs, blurred pages, incorrect answer books or evaluation against a different question paper set.
"Students are advised to ensure that all requests across subjects are included before final submission," the board said.
The board said the fee for verification of issues observed in supplied scanned copies of answer books is Rs 100 per answer book, while re-evaluation of answers will be charged at Rs 25 per question.
The fee can be paid only through online modes such as UPI, credit card, debit card and net banking, it said.
"Students may submit only one application each for verification of issues/re-evaluation and are therefore advised to decide in advance whether to apply for one or multiple subjects," the board said.
The CBSE said once the 'Freeze and Proceed to payment' button is clicked, the details will be locked and cannot be edited. Hence, students are advised to ensure that all details are correct.
The board said applications will be treated as successfully submitted only after online payment is completed. It also said that only one application each for verification of issues and re-evaluation will be permitted.
"Students may also apply online for re-evaluation of one or more questions across one or more subjects by providing the required details, including question number, page number, as the case may be," the board said.
The CBSE said the outcome of the requests will be communicated after completion of the process and advised candidates to submit their applications within the stipulated timeline.
A visual guide and a tutorial video have also been made available to help students complete the process, it added.
The CBSE also said Aadhaar-based verification has been introduced for security reasons while applying for verification of issues and re-evaluation of answers.
"For children who do not have Aadhaar, the parent's, relative's or guardian's Aadhaar details may be used," the board said.
"In this case, the Aadhaar name, date of birth and gender must be of the person whose Aadhaar number is used," it added.
The portal was launched after a delay, with the CBSE having earlier said that applications for verification and re-evaluation of answer books were expected to begin by May 29.
The development comes following concerns raised by some students and parents over the On-Screen Marking (OSM) system. The board has faced criticism from students and parents over technical glitches, payment failures and access-related issues during the verification and re-evaluation process.