New Delhi: Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi has voiced support for a group of CBSE Class 12 students who raised concerns over their examination results, sharing a video of his interaction with them and urging authorities to address their grievances regarding the evaluation process.
In a post on social media platform X, Gandhi described the students as “brilliant and brave” for questioning the system and seeking clarification over alleged discrepancies they discovered during the re-evaluation process.
Students allege irregularities in answer sheets
During the interaction, students explained that they had applied for photocopies of their answer sheets as part of the re-evaluation process and claimed to have found inconsistencies in the documents provided.
One of the students, Vedant, alleged that while the cover page appeared to belong to him, the handwriting on the internal pages did not match his own. Other students claimed that some answers were either left unevaluated or awarded fewer marks than expected.
According to the students, repeated attempts to obtain clarification from the Central Board of Secondary Education had not yielded satisfactory responses.
Student claims online abuse after raising concerns
Vedant alleged that after publicly questioning his results, he became the target of online abuse and was labelled anti-national and a “Soros agent” by some social media users.
The students said they took their concerns to social media after feeling that their complaints were not being adequately addressed through official channels.
They argued that instead of receiving answers regarding the alleged discrepancies, they faced criticism and personal attacks online.
Rahul Gandhi criticises response to students
Reacting to the students’ accounts, Gandhi questioned the criticism directed at them and said they were merely seeking access to their answer sheets and clarity regarding their results.
He argued that acknowledging potential problems within the system is essential for resolving them and stressed that students raising genuine concerns should not be subjected to insults or accusations.
The Congress leader said the students deserved a secure future and fair treatment while pursuing their education.
Wider debate over CBSE evaluation process
The controversy has fuelled a broader discussion regarding CBSE’s On-Screen Marking (OSM) system, under which examiners assess digitised copies of answer scripts.
Following the announcement of Class 12 results, several students and parents reportedly raised concerns about marking discrepancies after obtaining copies of evaluated answer sheets.
The issue gained traction on social media and parent forums, leading to increased scrutiny of the board’s assessment procedures and calls for greater transparency in the evaluation process.
Education minister assures action
Responding to the concerns, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan assured students and parents that any shortcomings in the evaluation system would be thoroughly examined.
He stated that corrective measures would be taken if irregularities were found and emphasised that accountability would be ensured wherever necessary.
The minister also said that no individual found responsible for any wrongdoing would be spared.
Re-evaluation process deferred
CBSE had initially planned to begin its verification and re-evaluation process on May 29. However, the board later postponed the exercise, citing the need for additional preparations to ensure a transparent and error-free experience on its post-result activities portal.
The board has since announced that the revised verification and re-evaluation process will commence on June 1.
As concerns surrounding answer-sheet evaluation continue to attract attention, students and parents are expected to closely monitor the outcome of the review process and any corrective measures introduced by the board.