New Delhi, May 31: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has sharply criticised the Central government regarding the On-Screen Marking (OSM) controversy involving the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), accusing authorities of responding to students’ legitimate concerns with insults rather than answers.
Information was available with The Chenab Times that Gandhi shared a video of his interaction with a group of students who had raised issues concerning their examination results. He described these students as brave young Indians who deserved a secure and bright future, vowing that his party would ensure they receive it.
In a post on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, Gandhi referred to his conversation as a “revealing chat with my fellow ‘anti-national Soros agents’.” He identified one of the students, Vedant, and his friends as “brilliant, brave young Indians” who posed straightforward questions to the CBSE and the government but were met with disdain. Gandhi asserted that to solve a problem, one must first acknowledge its existence, implying the government’s denial of the issue.
The controversy erupted when several Class 12 students pointed out discrepancies after accessing scanned copies of their answer sheets through the CBSE portal. These students alleged that the uploaded sheets did not belong to them, raising questions about the integrity of the revaluation process. A viral post by Vedant, detailing how his Physics answer sheet was mismatched, brought widespread attention to the issue, with many other students subsequently coming forward with similar complaints.
Following the public outcry, the CBSE addressed the concerns and provided the correct answer sheets to the affected students. The board stated that it was treating the cases of alleged mismatched answer sheets and other issues encountered during the revaluation process with utmost priority. Sources within the government indicated that experts from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) Madras and IIT Kanpur, in conjunction with the Digital Infrastructure Corporation of India (DICI), are actively reviewing the system to enhance the portal and its payment gateway integration.
Rahul Gandhi also targeted Coempt, the firm responsible for the OSM system in the CBSE exams, alleging that the company had a controversial past under its previous name, Globarena. The leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha demanded an independent judicial inquiry and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe to uncover the truth behind what he termed the “entire scam”. He questioned the decision to award the contract to a company with a disputed history, particularly in Telangana.
The Chenab Times News Desk