CBSE’s fascination with OSM, without adequate preparedness, has left millions of students in tears

India’s education establishment has a peculiar relationship with reform: it announces it loudly, implements it hastily, and then retreats into silence when things go wrong. The CBSE OSM controversy of 2026 is only the latest — and perhaps the most damaging — example of this pattern.

When CBSE introduced On-Screen Marking for Class 12 board examinations this year, it presented it as a leap into transparency and modernity. Answer scripts would be scanned, uploaded to a secure portal, and evaluated digitally by teachers from their own schools — no more physical transport, no totalling errors, no delays. The pitch was impeccable. The execution was not. What unfolded after results were........

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