Anatomy of a CBSE Crisis: AI, Outsourcing and Accountability
Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan holds review of the progress of various initiatives announced through a series of Budget announcements.(Image Pradhan on X)
By MANISH ANAND
The CBSE’s outsourced Onscreen Marking System has triggered outrage among students and parents after allegations of blurred scans, answer-sheet mismatches and unchecked copies surfaced online.
New Delhi, May 27, 2026 — The CBSE is mired in a crisis of credibility over the Onscreen Marking System (OMS) for the Class 12 Board examination. The CBSE in its own admission has said that the tender for the outsourcing was floated on August 28, 2025. After eight months, the outsourced firm Coempt Edu Tech delivered arguably the shoddiest work ever to detonate the very credibility of the Ministry of Education.
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi alleged that the Hyderabad-based firm, founded in 2000, had already been mired in a scandal in Telangana. The firm changed the name later, alleged Gandhi. He demanded to know “on whose instructions the work was awarded to Coempt Edu Tech.”
The CBSE replied to Gandhi: “CBSE has followed the General Financial Rules protocols scrupulously in the awarding of the contract to the agency. CBSE floated the RFP for Digital Evaluation of Answer books for Board Exams 2026 on Central Public Procurement portal on 28.08.2025 and awarded the contract to the qualified bidder.”
Eighteen million students, roughly, sat for the 12th Board examination. The firm that evaluated their answer sheet is believed to employ 50-75 employees. This entity claims to have software that employs AI for automation.
In the last week of August last year, the CBSE floated the tender. In the month of March-April, the students appeared for the examination. The time span is just six to seven months.
The trial run per a report in HT was held in five Delhi-based schools. Teachers involved in the trials flagged erroneous outcomes. They cautioned the CBSE to pause. The CBSE earlier didn’t listen to the Governing Body per the report to first for pilot trials at regional centres.
In place, the CBSE threw 18 million students to the mercy of a firm with just about 75 employees, while having opaque track record and credentials. Why was the CBSE in such tearing hurry? What happened to the safety drills? Why did the CBSE rope in a firm for evaluation of answer sheets which employ AI in its works?
Parents have been anguished. Students are in states of hopelessness. Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has not explained the rationale for enlisting a small firm for such humongous work. Students have demonstrated on internet that they were provided with blurred scanned copies of their answer sheets. They have also proven answer sheet mismatches. They have also alleged that marks were given without checking some of the answer sheets.
The parents are not able to comprehend the scale of institutional rupture. The 12th Board examination is the steppingstone for professional education of students. The CBSE just wrecked the trust of a generation of students. Parents are posting messages that they are not being provided with answer sheets by the CBSE.
Heads indeed must roll. The buck should not stop with just a few babus in the Ministry of Education and the CBSE. A thorough judicial enquiry within a fixed time frame with parliamentary oversight is a must to stem the rot in the education sector. And, the CBSE must revert to physical evaluation, not from next year but for examination which has produced the scandal of the decades.
(This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author’s own.)
CBSE’s Digital Marking Gamble Betrayed India’s Class 12 Students
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