The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) announced the 12th result 2026 in mid-May 2026, and has since been under fire over the use of On-Screen Marking system for the evaluation.
Ever since the window to obtain scanned copies of answer sheets was opened, the Board has been facing criticism from students, teachers, and parents. Several students and teachers have reported various irregularities in the evaluation process.
What students said
As per student complaints, the answer scripts of other candidates were allegedly uploaded under incorrect roll numbers. Many scanned copies were reportedly blurry, truncated, or unreadable, leaving several answers unchecked.
Concerns flagged by teachers, evaluators
Teachers involved in the OSM process reported that they were sent to centres without proper training on the software and had to learn the system while checking live answer scripts. They further alleged that, due to strict daily targets being prioritised, it became very difficult to notice answers written in corners or in unusual handwriting. Mathematics and Physics were severely affected by fatigue during step marking.
What CBSE records show
CBSE’s government body had recommenced pilots across all 22 regional offices before full implementation. However, no such large-scale pilots were conducted. Instead, only around 100 teachers from five Delhi schools participated in a two-day dry run held in January.
After repeated scanning failures, around 13,583 answer books were eventually checked manually, raising further questions over the preparedness and efficiency of the digital evaluation system.
‘No security breach’: CBSE clarifies after Class 12 student claims ‘vulnerabilities’ in OSM portal
This year, the Board witnessed a sharp rise in requests for scanned answer copies. Compared to the previous year, applications for scanned copies increased by 208 per cent.
When was OSM implemented?
The Board announced the implementation of OSM on February 9, a week before the Class 12 board examination commenced on February 17, 2026. Back then, the Board had conducted demonstrations, webinars, and mock assessment sessions. However, many school principals and evaluators had felt that those efforts lacked the depth and scale required for a nationwide transition in the evaluation process.
CBSE ‘ignored’ calls for regional trials before OSM rollout for Class 12 board exam evaluation
A nation-wide webinar on OSM was held on February 13. The webinar was attended by all schools and their teachers. The training portal was opened on February 15 to allow evaluators to practise on previous years’ answer books. At a press conference on May 17, officials said nearly 300,000 teachers logged into the portal for training, while around 77,000 eventually participated in the evaluation.
The CBSE Class 12 board results were announced on May 15. The application link to get scanned copies of Class 12 answer sheets was activated on May 19 and closed on May 25, 2026.
