NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Wednesday asked CBSE to detail the steps it has taken so far to curb alleged irregularities relating to digital evaluation (onscreen marking, or OSM) system even as solicitor general Tushar Mehta informed the court that a one-member commission has been appointed to inquire into the issues.A bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said urgent action was needed to comprehensively address students’ concerns. Enlisting the SG’s assistance in the PIL raising a host of issues relating to OSM, the CJI said, “Look at the frustration caused to young children.”
Supreme Court: CBSE system issue needs to be addressed
Justice Joymalya Bagchi said, “CBSE has a right to formulate a scheme for evaluation. But it appears to be facing teething problems for seamless implemen-tation. These need to be addressed.”The SG informed the court about the appointment of a one-member commission of S Radha Chauhan to inquire into the issues and suggest comprehensive remedial measures. On June 2, the Centre had removed CBSE chairperson Rahul Singh and secretary Himanshu Gupta from their posts with immediate effect and ordered an inquiry into the procurement of the OSM system.The PIL filed by a parent alleged that “answersheets scanned for the first time as part of OSM system by Class X students saw many irregularities — non-scanning of certain pages, illegible scanning, non-checking of certain answers/pages etc — creating uncertainties among students and parents”. “Due to scanning error and portal glitches, process of OSM evaluation has led to arbitrary evaluation or non-evaluation of answer sheets,” it alleged.