CBSE Class 12 results: Centre defends on-screen marking, slashes revaluation fees

The Ministry of Education on Sunday (May 17) dismissed concerns about On-Screen Marking (OSM) affecting students’ scores in CBSE Class 12 exams and announced that the revaluation and answer sheet verification charges have been reduced to Rs 100 each.

According to officials, the decision has been taken to ease the anxiety of students. They, however, maintained that the OSM is foolproof and a norm followed internationally to conduct transparent evaluation.

Education ministry clarifies OSM

At a press conference, School Education Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Sanjay Kumar, said, “A total of 98 lakh sheets were scanned for Class 12, and three levels of security were followed during the process. It was found that despite repeated scanning, there were still some legibility issues because the ink used in some answer sheets was very light in colour. Even after scanning, those scripts could not be made fully legible.”

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“In such cases, the examiners were instructed to evaluate the scripts manually and award marks accordingly. More than 13,000 such answer sheets were separately identified and manually checked. After manual evaluation, the marks obtained were entered into the system.”

“Special attention was given to the security levels and related issues so that the marking carried out through on-screen evaluation remained accurate, completely transparent and fair,” he added.

“This on-screen marking system is not something new, nor is it being implemented for the first time. CBSE had introduced OSM in 2014,” Kumar said. “At that time, from a technical perspective, it was felt that continuing it immediately would not be feasible because of the existing infrastructure and setup. However, we have reintroduced it this year,” he added.

Ministry addresses scoring concerns

Explaining the marking system of the OSM, Kumar stated that in the first stage, a secret code is given to answer books. After this, a quality check of the answer books is conducted. Each set has a different marking scheme, prepared by experts and reviewed by a different set of experts, he added.

The Education Secretary further stated that the step-marking rules were clearly mentioned on the question paper itself. For instance, students could receive a maximum of one mark for the first step, one mark for the second step, and two marks for the third step.

He further asserted that examiners cannot submit the answer book until each step is marked by the evaluator, they have to mention what is the mark given for each step and then the final marks for each answer. This brings in standardisation of testing, which is maintained throughout.

Kumar's comments came amid concerns being raised by students and parents that the drop in pass percentage in Class 12 and scores is due to the OSM, which was conducted for the first time for CBSE board exams.

Revaluation fees reduced sharply

Meanwhile, the CBSE has reduced the revaluation and answer sheet verification charges to help ease students’ anxiety.

“The CBSE has decided this time that if students wish to view their answer sheets, they can do so by paying a fee of Rs 100 instead of Rs 700. If they want verification or validation of the answer sheet, that too will cost Rs 100 instead of Rs 500. If they want any particular answer rechecked, the fee will be Rs 25 per question,” Kumar said.

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“We have decided that if during re-evaluation, a student's marks increase, then the amount paid for re-evaluation will be refunded to the student,” he said.

A total of 17,68,968 students appeared in the CBSE board examinations for Class 12. Over 94,000 students scored above 90 per cent, with more than 17,000 candidates securing marks above 95 per cent.

Among the regions, Trivandrum recorded the highest pass percentage at 95.62 per cent, followed closely by Chennai and Bengaluru. Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh registered the lowest pass percentage at 72.43 per cent.

(With agency inputs)