Congress Targets Education Minister Over CBSE On-Screen Marking System Controversy
The Congress party has intensified its offensive against the central government and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the alleged irregularities surrounding the Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) On-Screen Marking (OSM) system. Party leaders have accused the government of imposing an unnecessarily expensive evaluation mechanism on the board and have demanded the minister’s resignation to facilitate an impartial inquiry.
Allegations of Inflated Costs and Questionable Tenders
Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh alleged that the financial implications of deploying the OSM system were a subject of concern during the CBSE governing body meeting held in December 2024. Despite the apprehensions raised about the potential monetary burden, the system was still rolled out, a decision the party claims lacks transparency.
Ramesh pointed to a significant escalation in the project’s cost. According to the Congress leader, the initial tenders floated by the board valued the work at approximately ₹28 crore. However, the final work order issued for the same was valued at ₹38.46 crore, marking an increase of about ₹10 crore. The party further contends that based on the actual volume of answer sheets scanned, the fair cost of the project should have been around ₹25.39 crore, which is substantially lower than the amount finally sanctioned.
Parliamentary Committee Raises Red Flags
The controversy also reached the halls of Parliament. During a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, the panel heard testimony from Sarthak Siddhant, an 18-year-old whistleblower who had raised issues about the system. Following his deposition, the committee reportedly posed several pointed questions to CBSE officials regarding the procurement process. Ramesh asserted that the board’s responses were far from satisfactory, leaving the committee with more questions than answers.
In light of these developments, the Congress has squarely placed the responsibility on Minister Pradhan. The party is demanding an explanation for why the board was directed to adopt a system at such a high cost, especially when internal bodies had already flagged financial concerns.
Demand for Minister’s Resignation and Independent Probe
The opposition party has upped the ante by calling for the immediate resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan. Congress leaders argue that his stepping down is essential to guarantee a fair and independent investigation into the matter. Jairam Ramesh warned that if the minister remains in office, the single-member committee constituted by the central government to look into the issue would be reduced to a mere formality, lacking the credibility required for a thorough probe.
Adding to the chorus of dissent, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has also targeted the government over the issue. He described the recent removal of senior CBSE officials in the wake of the OSM controversy as a “whitewash” and a deliberate attempt to conceal the truth. Gandhi has echoed the demand for the education minister’s ouster and has called for a comprehensive judicial inquiry to get to the bottom of the allegations.
Understanding the Core of the OSM Dispute
The OSM system has been under intense scrutiny for several weeks. The controversy first gained traction when a group of Class 12 students claimed that the handwriting on the scanned copies of their answer sheets, as provided by the board, did not match their own original handwriting. These allegations immediately raised concerns about potential tampering, mismatched answer sheets, and systemic flaws within the digital evaluation process.
Following the uproar, the central government’s Cabinet Secretariat announced on June 3 the formation of a one-man committee to investigate the procurement process of the OSM system. The committee has been tasked with a comprehensive review of the purchase of OSM services, the procedures followed by the board, and the various allegations that have surfaced. The findings of this committee are expected to be pivotal in clarifying the facts and determining accountability, although the opposition remains skeptical of its independence given the current political context.
