By KUMAR VIKRAM
The Ministry of Education officials say the CBSE’s controversial On-Screen Marking system successfully handled over 70,000 student grievances and repelled cyberattacks, even as protesters at Jantar Mantar demand Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation over the exam controversy.
New Delhi, June 6, 2026 — As hundreds of students and supporters of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) gathered at Jantar Mantar on Saturday demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged irregularities in examinations and the CBSE’s On-Screen Marking (OSM) system, the Ministry of Education mounted a detailed defence of the digital evaluation platform, highlighting cybersecurity safeguards, student-relief measures, and a high-level inquiry into its implementation.
The protest, led by CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, comes amid growing controversy over the CBSE’s introduction of On-Screen Marking for Class XII Board examinations in 2026. Following the declaration of results in May, students reported concerns over unexpectedly low scores, blurred answer-sheet scans, missing pages, alleged answer-book mismatches, and difficulties accessing the grievance portal.
The Ministry of Education has outlined a series of measures taken to address concerns surrounding the Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) newly introduced On-Screen Marking (OSM) system, while emphasizing that student grievance mechanisms remain fully operational and cybersecurity safeguards have successfully protected the evaluation platform from attacks.
CBSE introduced, according to an informal note shared with the media, the On-Screen Marking system for Class XII Board examinations in 2026 with the stated objective of reducing human error and increasing transparency in answer-sheet evaluation. “However, following the declaration of results on May 13, several students raised concerns over unexpectedly low scores, access to answer books, and the revised re-evaluation process,” added the note.
The controversy intensified after students reported issues including blurred scans, missing pages, alleged answer-sheet mismatches and difficulties accessing the grievance portal. Concerns were further amplified by cybersecurity threats targeting the system.
The Ministry’s clarification through an informal note comes on the same day that CJP supporters assembled at Jantar Mantar, accusing the Education Ministry of failing to adequately address concerns raised by students. Protest organisers have made the CBSE OSM controversy a central issue in their campaign and have repeatedly called for the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan, arguing that accountability must extend beyond administrative transfers within CBSE.
According to information, CBSE kept verification of marks, answer-book access and re-evaluation processes operational despite technical challenges. “Application timelines were revised to ensure that students were not adversely affected by portal disruptions,” added the note.
As of June 4, CBSE had received 70,433 successful grievance applications, including 7,314 requests for verification of marks and 63,119 applications for re-evaluation, it added.
The ministry official said the portal handled nearly 1.5 million access requests within two minutes of launch and successfully blocked more than 100,000 unauthorized access attempts. Officials also claimed that a 3.8-million-packet denial-of-service (DoS) attack on June 3 was thwarted without disrupting services. More than 8,000 concurrent users reportedly accessed the system without any confirmed data breach.
“To strengthen technical oversight, cybersecurity teams from IIT Kanpur and IIT Madras were engaged for independent audits. Additional measures included web application firewall protection, DDoS mitigation systems, penetration testing and continuous monitoring,” added the official.
Meanwhile, the government has moved to establish accountability. CBSE Chairman Rahul Singh and Secretary Himanshu Gupta were transferred, while Prashant Lokhande and Varun Bhardwaj were appointed as the new Chairman and Secretary, respectively.
On June 2, the Centre also ordered an independent inquiry headed by S. Radha Chauhan, Chairperson of the Capacity Building Commission, to examine procurement, implementation and vendor-performance aspects of the OSM project.
The inquiry’s findings are expected to shape future reforms in digital evaluation systems for board examinations.
Cockroach Janta Party Protest: Dharmendra Pradhan Faces Anger
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