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CBSE Penalties and Scrutiny over On-Screen Marking System

Monday, June 1, 2026
5 min read
CBSE Penalties and Scrutiny over On-Screen Marking System

The Central Board of Secondary Education, or CBSE , is going to slap penalties on its On-Screen Marking service provider, Coempt Edu Teck. This is because there were major concerns about holes in the online answer-sheet evaluation portal, according to a report that just came out from the Hindustan Times.

Scrutiny really intensified over this digital evaluation system for Class 12 marking. CBSE said on Sunday that whatever problems were flagged in the OnMark portal were "contained." They said cybersecurity experts—people from various government agencies and the IITs—got deployed. They were there to strengthen the whole platform.

But the fallout isn't just about the fix. The report mentioned that Coempt Edu Teck, based in Hyderabad, is likely to face financial penalties. This comes from provisions in a CBSE tender they issued back in August 28, 2025.

That tender included a nasty range of penalties tied to how long it took to fix technical issues. Apparently, for every fifteen minutes a problem went unresolved once a CBSE official flagged it, there was a fine of one lakh rupees. That’s serious.

And there was this bit about blacklisting the vendor for serious lapses. That clause was in the original tender. But then, they pulled it. A corrigendum came out on September 20, 2025, and that part was removed.

Coempt Edu Teck eventually won the contract, though. That was awarded on December 5, according to the same report.

Meanwhile, the controversy was already brewing. CBSE actually posted something on X. They said they were "closely monitoring the vulnerabilities in the OnMark portal of our service provider that are being flagged in the public domain."

Then you get the response. They said the expert team was deployed. From across the government. And from the IITs. To fortify the systems. To take them over to a more secure setup.

"The identified vulnerabilities have been contained," the board stated. They added that other exploitable weaknesses were being ruled out.

CBSE also thanked the "alert citizens and ethical hackers." They highlighted the possible weaknesses in the system.

This whole mess surfaced at a really bad time. CBSE had been under pressure already. Reports of technical failures in the post-result portal. Discrepancies in evaluated answer sheets.

And then there’s the political angle kicking in. Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, stepped in. He questioned the whole transparency of the tender process linked to this OSM digital system.

In a post on X, Gandhi alleged that technical norms were repeatedly watered down. Just so a specific company could snag the contract.

ANI reported he cited modifications to the rules. Stuff about scanning resolution standards. Robotic scanner requirements. Software certification norms. It felt like a lot of shifting sand.

This all happens right before something else big opens up. CBSE is launching its Post-Result Activities portal for Class 12 students. It’s for verification and re-evaluation of answer books.

Starting Monday, students can actually apply through this portal. It’s a big deal.

Already, nearly four lakh students have managed to access about eleven lakh scanned answer sheets through this system.

The agency noted that if there are any discrepancies, subject experts will review the re-evaluation requests. Marks will be updated if they find differences. It’s supposed to be a check. A correction.

Written by Gree News Team — Senior Editorial Board

Gree News Team covers international news and global affairs at Gree News. Our collective of senior editors is dedicated to providing independent, accurate, and responsible journalism for a global audience.

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