Delhi HC seeks response from Centre, CBSE on plea highlighting discrepancy in OSM marking system

The Delhi High Court sought responses from the central government and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Monday regarding a plea highlighting discrepancies in marking in CBSE examinations conducted through the On-Screen Marking (OSM) mode.

The high court listed the matter for hearing on June 12, news agency ANI reported. Division bench of justices Neena Bansal, Krishna and Madhu Jain sought a response from the Centre and CBSE, the report added.

What did CBSE say in court?

As per the report, the counsel for CBSE submitted that the petition is not maintainable as the petitioner, National Students' Union of India (NSUI), is a student wing of a political party.

In response, advocate Mohd. Ali Khan, along with Rishav Ranjan, appeared for the petitioner and submitted that the NSUI is a 55-year-old student organisation, and that students are minors, which is why it is raising the issue.

The petitioner said that they will address the objection raised by the CBSE.

During the hearing, the counsel for the CBSE submitted that the Board is addressing the grievances of students and affected students can write to it.

Demands of the petitioner

1. The petitioner NSUI has sought directions to the CBSE to give compensatory marks where OSM copies are not readable, not properly marked, etc. It is praying for keeping the revaluation portal open for next month, ANI reported.

2. The petitioner also prayed for directing the reopening of the portal for verification and permitting manual rechecking and physical verification of the answer sheets of affected students, pending disposal of the writ petition.

3. It has also sought a direction to initiate appropriate proceedings against the company responsible for large-scale irregularities in the On-Screen Marking System.

4. The petition further raised the matter concerns about the fairness, transparency and reliability of a national examination process, which has a direct bearing on the future of students, the report added.

“Class XII board marks are not only a record of academic performance. They determine admission to universities, professional colleges, scholarship opportunities, entrance eligibility and the overall academic future of students," the plea stated, a per ANI.

“Any error, delay or inconsistency in the evaluation process has immediate consequences which cannot be adequately repaired later. The harm is not abstract. It is concrete, continuing and irreversible in many cases,” the plea added.

5. The petition also raised concerns regarding the implementation of the OSM system by the CBSE. The system was introduced as a digital method of scanning and evaluating answer books.

The petitioner stated that after the result declaration, large numbers of students, parents and teachers across the country raised concerns regarding blurred scans, missing pages, incomplete uploads, mismatch of answer sheets, unexpectedly low marks and lack of a meaningful mechanism for manual verification.

The concern was not confined to a small set of students. It became a nationwide issue because the digital system itself was being questioned by the very persons it was meant to serve.

It is also said that the CBSE itself acknowledged, through its own public communications, that the portal for obtaining scanned copies of answer books suffered technical glitches and that a very large number of applications, approximately 1,27,146 applications concerning 3,87,399 scanned answer books, had been submitted in a very short time.

The petitioner submitted that this figure reflects an extraordinary level of concern and lack of confidence amongst students regarding the process. When such a large number of students seek scanned copies immediately after the result declaration, the matter cannotbe treated as a routine post-result formality.

Case in SC

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine a plea filed by a student from Saudi Arabia seeking directions to the Central Board of Secondary Education to declare his Class 12 improvement examination result.