The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has defended the rollout of its digital On Screen Marking (OSM) system for the 2026 Class 12 Board examinations amid growing concerns from students and parents over lower-than-expected scores, particularly in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics (PCM).
In a detailed internal note on the implementation of OSM, CBSE acknowledged operational and evaluation-related challenges during the assessment process, including rescanning of thousands of answer books and manual evaluation in cases where scan quality remained poor.
The clarification comes after CBSE recorded a dip in both pass percentage and average marks in the 2026 Class 12 Board results. The overall pass percentage fell to 85.20% this year from 88.39% in 2025, marking a decline of 3.19 percentage points. More than 1.76 million students appeared for the examinations.
CBSE also acknowledged that lower-level cut-offs for positional grades in subjects such as Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Accountancy declined by 1–3 marks this year.
According to the Board, this may have happened because evaluators were “tied to the marking scheme” prepared by subject experts for each subject. “Board examinations have always tested for rigour in answers to demonstrate an understanding of the subject rather than application of a short-cut,” CBSE said in the document.
The observation assumes significance amid complaints from students, parents and coaching institutes that strict stepwise evaluation may have disadvantaged students using alternate or shortcut methods commonly adopted in competitive examinations such as JEE Main.
Concerns were also raised online by students claiming high percentile scores in JEE Main but comparatively lower marks in the CBSE Board examinations this year.
Nearly 1 Crore Answer Books Scanned
According to the Board, a total of 98,66,222 answer books were scanned and evaluated digitally under the OSM system introduced for the 2026 Class 12 Board examinations. CBSE said 68,018 answer books had to be rescanned owing to deficient scan quality flagged during evaluation.
The Board further stated that by May 9, a total of 13,583 answer books continued to show “persistent poor quality”. These answer books were eventually evaluated manually and the marks uploaded into the system. CBSE said the decision was taken as “student anxiety was growing around the date of declaration of results”.
The Board also acknowledged technical issues during the initial phase of implementation, including static IP whitelisting problems at schools, teacher login difficulties and system overload issues. According to CBSE, some evaluators also rejected answer books after discovering that students had answered in a language different from the one reflected in the database. These cases were later corrected and reassigned for evaluation.
What Is On Screen Marking?
CBSE described OSM as a globally recognised digital evaluation mechanism aimed at improving consistency, transparency and accuracy in large-scale examinations. The Board said the system helps eliminate totalling and tabulation errors, ensures adherence to marking schemes, improves monitoring and enhances security during the evaluation process.
CBSE said OSM has already been adopted by several universities and examination bodies in India, including Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj University, Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University, Anna University, Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences and Biju Patnaik University of Technology.
It also noted that the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education is preparing to introduce similar technology, while international assessment bodies such as Pearson already use digital evaluation systems extensively across Europe and the Middle East.
CBSE’s Earlier OSM Attempt
CBSE said it had first implemented OSM in 2014, but the initiative was not continued because of difficulties encountered in the scanning process. For the 2026 rollout, the Board said several modifications were introduced, including scanning answer books without separating pages, implementing stricter quality-control measures and mapping evaluator availability with computer infrastructure in schools.
The Board said all affiliated schools are mandated to maintain minimum digital infrastructure, which helped facilitate the implementation. Training and orientation exercises were conducted ahead of evaluation, including dry runs involving teachers, nationwide webinars and practice sessions using previous years’ answer books before actual evaluation work began in March.
Re-Evaluation Process Opened
Addressing concerns raised after declaration of results, CBSE said students can apply for scanned copies of evaluated answer books and verify their responses against the official marking schemes uploaded on the Board’s website. Students can subsequently submit observations regarding evaluation discrepancies, following which subject expert committees will examine the grievances and communicate the outcome.
As CBSE opens scanned-copy verification and re-evaluation windows, the rollout of OSM is likely to intensify debate over whether greater standardisation in digital evaluation can coexist with flexibility for alternate problem-solving approaches in high-stakes board examinations.
