NEW DELHI: A controversy involving India’s Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has triggered widespread student anger and intensified political criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, with calls growing for the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
The backlash follows irregularities linked to this year’s school-leaving examinations, which were evaluated using a new On-Screen Marking system that digitises scanned answer sheets for online grading. Students and educators have reported technical failures, including blurred scans, system glitches and server outages, raising concerns over the reliability of results that determine university admissions for more than 1.7 million candidates.
Several students have alleged that their answer scripts were incorrectly evaluated or mismatched, with some posting evidence on social media showing discrepancies between submitted and assessed papers. One such case, which went viral online, prompted the CBSE to acknowledge an error and reissue a manually verified result.
The controversy has escalated after reports of security vulnerabilities in the evaluation system, with student-led investigations alleging weaknesses in the digital marking portal and concerns over data integrity. Critics have also questioned the selection process for the private firm tasked with implementing the system.
The CBSE has not publicly detailed the scale of the errors but has faced mounting pressure from students, parents and education experts to ensure transparency and accountability in the examination process.
Opposition parties have seized on the issue, accusing the government of mismanagement and calling for an independent inquiry. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi described official responses as a “cover-up,” while other opposition figures alleged that bureaucratic reshuffles were aimed at deflecting accountability.
Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has faced increasing scrutiny as protests and online campaigns continue to grow, with critics arguing that repeated examination controversies reflect deeper structural problems in India’s testing system.
The CBSE controversy adds to a series of recent disputes over examination integrity in India, intensifying concerns among students about fairness and trust in institutions that govern academic and professional pathways.