New Delhi. The National Students Union of India (NSUI) has approached the Delhi High Court over the new on-screen marking (OSM) system implemented in the Class 12 board exam evaluation process of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). The student organization has raised questions on the fairness and transparency of the evaluation process by filing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in this matter. The petition alleges that after the implementation of the new Digital Evaluation System, many students have faced problems like blurry answer sheets, incomplete scans, missing pages and possible errors in marks.
The organization says this could affect students’ results and impact their educational prospects. NSUI has demanded from the court that the process of verification of answer sheets should be started again and manual investigation should be conducted in the cases where complaints of disputes or irregularities have come up. The organization has also demanded an independent and impartial investigation into the functioning of the entire OSM system. The student organization claims that after the declaration of class 12th results, thousands of students from across the country have lodged complaints regarding the evaluation process.
According to the petition, many students alleged that the scanned copies of answer sheets provided to them were blurry, making it difficult to read the answers clearly. In some cases, pages of answer sheets were found missing, while many copies were not uploaded completely. Students also claimed that there was a mismatch between some answer sheets and scanned records, raising questions over the fairness of the evaluation. NSUI says that due to these alleged technical glitches, a large number of students have got lower marks than expected. Apart from this, many students also faced difficulty in accessing the online portal to verification and revaluation of answer sheets.
It has been argued in the petition that the results of class 12th board examination are very important for the students, because admission in colleges, allocation of scholarships and many other educational opportunities are decided on the basis of these marks. In such a situation, any kind of error in the evaluation process can have far reaching and serious consequences. Due to these alleged shortcomings, many students have got marks much lower than expected, which may adversely affect their admission and future prospects in higher education. The petitioner has told the court that if there are technical shortcomings in the digital evaluation system, then students should not suffer the loss.
Demand in the petition
Serious objections have been raised regarding the new on-screen marking (OSM) system of CBSE in a public interest litigation (PIL) filed in the Delhi High Court through NSUI President Vinod Jhakhar. The petition demands the court to award compensatory marks to students whose answer sheets were allegedly missing, blurry scanned or wrongly evaluated so that their academic future is not adversely affected. The petition also claims that after the declaration of the results, CBSE received several complaints, in which students pointed out problems like blurred scanned copies, missing pages, incompletely uploaded answer sheets and less marks. The organization alleges that due to these alleged shortcomings, many students got lower marks than expected. NSUI has also argued in its favor that after the release of the results, CBSE had issued several public notices admitting that there were technical problems in the portal providing scanned copies of answer sheets.
According to the petition, after the declaration of Class 12 results, students applied extensively to get the scanned copies of their checked answer sheets. NSUI claims that more than 1.27 lakh applications to around 3.87 lakh answer sheets were received, indicating that there is widespread skepticism and dissatisfaction among students regarding the new digital evaluation system. The petition said that many students complained that the scanned copies provided to them were blurry, in some cases pages of answer sheets were missing, while many answers were not evaluated at all. Apart from this, some students also complained about discrepancies in the answer sheets and displayed records.
The petition states that students whose answer sheets were scanned and evaluated properly have received their results as per the normal process, while students whose copies faced technical problems in scanning, uploading or evaluation are facing a different situation. NSUI argues that this situation points to unequal treatment of students, while students are not responsible for these problems. The student body told the court that the entire controversy arose out of alleged technical glitches in the system. Therefore, the academic future of any student should not be allowed to be affected due to such errors. The petition states that board exam scores are extremely important for college admissions, scholarships and other educational opportunities.
The petition demands that additional marks (compensatory marks) should be provided to students whose marks are less than expected or who do not have clarity regarding the evaluation of answer sheets. NSUI argues that if there have been technical or administrative errors in the evaluation process, then students should not suffer the loss. The students’ organization has also requested the court to open a new verification window so that the affected students can get an opportunity to get their answer sheets re-verified. Along with this, a demand has also been made to allow physical rechecking and manual verification of the disputed answer sheets. The petition said that in cases where students have doubts about scanned answer sheets, missing pages, blurred copies or the accuracy of the evaluation process, physical scrutiny of answer sheets should be conducted instead of relying solely on digital records.
Demand for independent investigation
NSUI has demanded from the court that an independent and impartial investigation should be conducted into the alleged irregularities in the OSM system. Also, CBSE should be instructed to prepare necessary security measures, technical standards and clear guidelines to make the digital evaluation system more reliable and transparent in future. NSUI says that in these cases there is no fault of the students, yet they are facing losses. The students’ organization has also urged the court to award additional compensatory marks to students whose answer sheets have been lost, scanned or wrongly evaluated. The organization argues that the burden of the system’s shortcomings cannot be placed on the students.
