Explained | CBSE’s new Class 12 evaluation system under fire: What is OSM and why are students worried?

With the declaration of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Class 12 board examination results 2026, the board has found itself at the centre of a fresh controversy this time over its newly implemented On-Screen Marking (OSM) evaluation system.

Over the past few days, students and parents across the country have raised concerns over unexpectedly low marks, alleged evaluation inconsistencies, and possible technical issues in the digital assessment process. 

The debate has now expanded into a larger discussion around whether CBSE was fully prepared to implement large-scale digital evaluation for one of India’s biggest school examinations.

The issue has gained further attention because 2026 marks the first time CBSE has fully implemented OSM evaluation for Class 12 board examinations.

What is OSM?

OSM, or On-Screen Marking, is a digital evaluation system introduced by CBSE for evaluating Class 12 answer sheets.

Under the system, students still write their examinations physically using pen and paper. However, instead of answer sheets being physically sent to evaluators, the copies are scanned and converted into digital PDFs, which are then evaluated online by teachers through a secure portal.

CBSE had officially announced the introduction of OSM in February 2026. In its circular issued to schools, the board said the move was aimed at improving “efficiency and transparency” in evaluation.

The board had listed several expected benefits of OSM, including:

• Elimination of totalling errors

• Reduced manual intervention

• Faster evaluation

• Reduced transportation costs and time

• Wider teacher participation

• Environmentally sustainable evaluation

• Reduced requirement for post-result verification

• Greater transparency and coordination

CBSE had also instructed schools to ensure technical readiness, including computer systems, stable internet, uninterrupted power supply, and compatible browsers before implementation.

Despite the concerns, CBSE has clarified that the OSM system does not use Artificial Intelligence for evaluating answer sheets, and that all copies were assessed manually by qualified human evaluators through a digital platform.

What happened after the results?

The controversy began shortly after CBSE declared the Class 12 board examination results on May 13, 2026. 

Soon after the results were announced, several students, particularly from the Science stream, began raising concerns over unexpectedly low marks compared to their school performance, pre-board scores, internal assessments, and competitive examination performance.

The issue became especially sensitive because Class 12 scores continue to play an important role in college admissions, eligibility criteria, cut-offs, scholarships, and entrance-related requirements across several institutions.

Several students alleged that:

• diagrams, graphs, or lengthy answers may not have been properly visible during digital evaluation,

• scanned copies may have appeared unclear or incomplete,

• evaluators may have faced difficulty assessing handwritten responses on-screen,

• or stricter digital evaluation may have resulted in sharper marking compared to previous years.

This year, the Class 12 board results also saw a dip in the overall pass percentage. CBSE recorded an overall pass percentage of 85.20 per cent in 2026, lower than last year’s 88.39 per cent, further intensifying discussions around evaluation standards and the implementation of OSM.

At the same time, several teachers and education experts defended the system, arguing that digital evaluation reduces clerical errors such as totalling mistakes, improves standardisation, and limits manual intervention during the marking process.

What has CBSE and the Ministry of Education said?

CBSE and the Ministry of Education have strongly defended the OSM system amid the criticism.

Addressing the controversy during a press conference, Ministry of Education Secretary Sanjay Kumar said, “This on-screen marking system is not something new, nor is it being implemented for the first time. 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 further explained the scale and security measures involved in the process.

“This time, when the Class 12 examinations were conducted, the answer sheets were scanned, and PDF copies were created. In total, around 9.8 million answer sheets were scanned for the students who appeared in the examinations,” he said.

According to Kumar, CBSE maintained “three levels of security” during scanning to ensure that no page was missed, scans remained legible, and answer sheets could be securely transferred digitally.

He also stated that OSM improved flexibility and transparency because answer sheets could now be evaluated beyond the geographical jurisdiction of regional offices.

CBSE, in its official result release, also highlighted several claimed advantages of OSM, including “error-free evaluation,” reduced human intervention, increased efficiency, and elimination of posting and totalling errors.

The board stated that nearly 98.66 lakh answer books were evaluated through the system this year.

The scanning issue and manual evaluation

Even while defending the system, officials acknowledged that technical challenges had emerged during implementation.

According to officials, around 13,000 answer sheets eventually had to be checked manually because some scanned copies were unclear. This reportedly happened because some students had written using very light ink, making scanning difficult.

This became one of the major talking points in the controversy, with students questioning whether scanning quality issues could have affected evaluation accuracy in other cases as well.

In its post-result notification released on May 13, the board stated, “There is a possibility that even after taking so many steps students are not satisfied with their declared performance. In such a scenario, CBSE is providing a facility to the students to get their evaluated scanned answer book and themselves check the same.”

This statement became significant because it effectively acknowledged that students may still need to independently verify the evaluation despite the introduction of OSM.

CBSE reduces re-evaluation fees

Amid growing criticism, CBSE has announced a significant reduction in fees for answer sheet access, verification, and re-evaluation for Class 12 board examinations.

The announcement was made on Sunday, May 17, by Education Secretary Sanjay Kumar during a press conference attended by CBSE Chairperson Rahul Singh and Controller of Examinations Sanyam Bhardwaj.

Under the revised structure:

• Students will now have to pay Rs 100 to obtain scanned copies of answer sheets

• Rs 100 for verification or re-evaluation requests

• Rs 25 per question for checking answers

Earlier, CBSE charged:

• Rs 700 for accessing answer sheets

• Rs 500 for re-evaluation

• Rs 100 per question for answer verification

Officials also stated that if any evaluation error is found during the process, the fees paid by students will be refunded.

Kumar also clarified that OSM was not entirely new and had originally been introduced by CBSE in 2014, but could not be continued then because of technological limitations at the time.

CBSE Chairperson Rahul Singh added that the board conducted multiple preparation exercises before implementing the system this year, including dry runs in selected schools in January, teacher consultations, and large-scale webinars and training sessions in February for evaluators.

Officials further noted that several higher education institutions and examination bodies, including Mumbai University, Delhi University, Visvesvaraya Technological University, and ICAI, currently use similar digital evaluation systems.