CBSE Row Eight: Center appoints new CBSE Chairman, Secretary; commission of inquiry to investigate the purchase of OSM services
After the Class 12 Board exam results were released, the CBSE came under fire for irregularities in the marking of answers and the malfunctioning of the revaluation process. File. | Photo credit: VV Krishnan
Amid the ongoing controversy over the Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) on-screen marking system, the Center on Tuesday (June 2, 2026) appointed senior Lokhande bureaucrats Prashant Sitaram and Varun Bhardwaj as the new chairman and secretary of the CBSE after the incumbents were dropped from the On-Screen Mark System (OSMcreen).
The board announced the transfer of CBSE chairman Rahul Singh and secretary Himanshu Gupta while adding that it is setting up a committee to investigate the awarding of contracts for on-screen marking services by the CBSE.
After the Class 12 Board exam results were released, the CBSE came under fire for irregularities in the marking of answers and the malfunctioning of the revaluation process. The newly introduced on-screen marking (OSM) system is under scrutiny due to a widespread feeling among students that the marks they received did not meet their expectations. CBSE’s pass percentage fell to 85.29% this year from 88.39% last year, while the number of students scoring above 90% also fell.
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Due to huge number of requests for answer book copies, the post-result verification portal crashed. As for the students who managed to get scanned copies of their answer sheets, they were shocked to find smudged or missing pages and unmarked answers. Many even received answers from other students.
A one-man panel to examine the purchase of OSM
The Center has constituted a one-member committee to investigate matters related to the provision of services for the OSM system by the CBSE.
The committee will be chaired by S. Radha Chauhan, Chairperson of the Capacity Building Commission, a memorandum issued by the Cabinet Secretariat announced on Tuesday (June 2, 2026).
Ms. Chauhan has been empowered to enlist the help of officials from other departments as needed, while the capacity building committee 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 Ms. Chauhan was shared with the Department of School Education and Literacy and the Department of Personnel and Training.
Earlier in the day, the Parliamentary Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, chaired by Congress MP Digvijaya Singh, had summoned top officials of the board and the education ministry to discuss the matter.
(With PTI inputs)
Published – 02 Jun 2026 18:40 IST