CBSE OSM controversy: Students report blurred answer sheets, payment failures on portal

New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education on Wednesday night said its online portal for accessing scanned copies of Class 12 answer sheets was operating without issues and that students were successfully submitting applications through the system.

According to the Board, a total of 1,27,146 applications seeking 3,87,399 scanned answer books had been received successfully by 7.30 pm on May 20, within just three hours of the portal going live.

CBSE also urged students to continue using the facility through the official portal.

Students report payment and access issues

Despite the Board’s clarification, several students and social media users later reported difficulties while trying to complete the application process.

Many claimed that although payment amounts had been deducted from their bank accounts, the portal continued to display unsuccessful transaction messages.

Others complained that the website was either responding slowly or freezing at the “Preview & Confirmation” stage during the application process.

One student posted on X that multiple attempts to pay the fee had failed despite money being deducted.

“What is happening? Paid Rs 300 four times but got rejected. I paid Rs 3 and it got accepted. I still have not received my Rs 1,200 refund,” the user wrote.

Another student alleged that the issue remained unresolved even hours after payment.

“I made the payment 17 hours ago and the fee was deducted, but it is still showing payment not successful,” he posted.

One user expressed frustration over the functioning of the portal, saying users had been trying to complete payments since morning but the website was not moving beyond the confirmation stage.

Questions raised over OSM evaluation system

Apart from technical glitches, some students and parents also raised concerns regarding the implementation of the On-Screen Marking (OSM) evaluation process introduced by CBSE this year.

Several users shared screenshots on social media claiming that portions of scanned answer sheets appeared blurred or unclear.

Some questioned how evaluation could have been carried out properly if the scanned copies themselves were allegedly difficult to read.

One social media user claimed that “students themselves can't read their own writing in the scanned copies” and demanded greater transparency in the assessment process.

Another suggested that the large number of applications for scanned copies reflected dissatisfaction among students regarding the marking system used this year.

Demands for rechecking and greater transparency

The controversy also triggered calls from some users for manual rechecking of answer scripts and withdrawal of the OSM-based evaluation system.

A section of students and parents demanded grace marks for those they believe may have been affected by alleged scanning or evaluation discrepancies.

Some posts on social media alleged that blurred scans and possible errors during digital evaluation had impacted students’ marks and future academic opportunities.

No separate CBSE response yet on blurred copies

While CBSE issued a clarification regarding the functioning of the portal and the volume of successful applications, the Board has not yet released any separate statement addressing the allegations linked to blurred scanned copies or concerns surrounding the OSM evaluation process.

The Board had earlier introduced full-scale On-Screen Marking for Class 12 answer sheet evaluation this year as part of its efforts to modernise the examination assessment system.

With agency inputs