CBSE's OSM System Fails Efficiency Test: Mixed Answer Books, Skipped Pages, Missed Marks

With CBSE announcing the results of Class 12 students in 2026 on May 13, there were two key developments - the introduction of On-Screen Marking (OSM), which was announced shortly before the annual exams, and the significantly low pass percentage of 85.20 per cent.

It is interesting to note that in previous years (2023 - 87.33 per cent, 2024 – 87.98 per cent and 2025 – 88.39 per cent), the pass percentage among CBSE Class 12 students had been consistently stable; however, in 2026, it went down by more than three percentage points. Commenting on the decline, DoSEL Secretary Sanjay Kumar said that such fluctuations were not unusual and attributed the earlier rises to the Covid-era relaxation.

CBSE staunchly supported OSM, stating it to be "technology-driven reform aimed at improving 'accuracy', 'transparency' and 'uniformity' in assessment."

But for thousands of students and parents, something didn't add up. The gap between how students recalled writing the exam and how they actually scored sparked a controversy that went beyond low marks.

Since results were declared on May 19, students have struggled with repeated glitches on CBSE's portal for accessing answer books. Once they got their scanned copies, social media filled with complaints of blurred pages, unchecked answers, missing portions, wrong step-marking, and even answer books that allegedly belonged to someone else.

Mix-up of Answer Sheets

In one instance, Vedant, a class 12 student, asserted that the physics answer sheet submitted in his name was not his. He presented pictures to prove that it wasn’t him as the handwriting did not match at all. On Monday evening, the CBSE accepted its mistake and gave him his sheets back.

However, this is yet to be sorted out by many students. For instance, Riya (name changed), a student of Lucknow, found that her scanned copies were of blurred pages and since her score failed to qualify for JEE Advanced, she decided to take a gap year.

Students Point out Discrepancies in Evaluation

Krish Paswan flagged errors in his Physics paper, claiming nine MCQs were correctly answered but only three got marks. Similar complaints have surfaced in Chemistry and Mathematics too. Sanjana, who scored just 11 out of 70 in Chemistry theory, has also applied for her evaluated script.

Teachers had earlier complained of blurred scans, server crashes, and rushed training. A Lucknow-based CBSE teacher said evaluator training should've started mid-term last year.

OSM Main Gain in Calculation

This was not true for all the evaluators. For example, Madhusmita Dash, who is the Head Examiner of SAI International School, described OSM as "easy and comfortable," as it helped save a lot of time and avoided tallying errors. However, she confessed that using the computer screen was tiring.

Full-scale Rollout had Exposed Gaps

Dash flagged missing scanned pages as a real issue. At her centre, 19 of 1,587 copies were rescanned. She called it a first-year glitch.

CBSE has said students unhappy with marks can apply for scanned copies, verification, and re-evaluation under its grievance framework.

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