CBSE officials transferred, panel to probe OSM tender

SOCIAL – EDUCATION

3 JUNE 2026

• With the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) facing flak for its controversial new on-screen marking (OSM) system, the Centre replaced the Board’s Chairman and Secretary and set up a one-member committee to inquire into its procurement of services for the marking process and submit its report within a month.
• Senior IAS officer Lokhande Prashant Sitaram was appointed the new CBSE Chairperson, according to the Cabinet Appointments Committee.
• He replaces Rahul Singh, who has been shunted out to the Agriculture Ministry.
• Varun Bhardwaj, a director in the Education Ministry, will take over as CBSE Secretary, replacing Himanshu Gupta, who has been prematurely repatriated to his parent cadre in the Home Ministry.
• Alleging that the transfers were an “eyewash and a cover up”, the Congress said the move was an attempt to fix accountability on bureaucrats rather than the political leadership.
• The inquiry committee to probe into the OSM tender will be chaired by S. Radha Chauhan, chairperson of the Capacity Building Commission, and will submit its report to the Department of Personnel and Training within one month, according to a memorandum issued by the Cabinet Secretariat.
• Students have complained about the digital evaluation process saying that the scans were blurry, pages were missing, and in some cases, answer sheets had been mixed up with those of other students.
• Besides, ethical hackers have exposed vulnerabilities in the marking portal.
• Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge demanded that the PM sack the Education Minister Mr. Pradhan. “Nothing less than that would provide a sense of justice to 18.5 lakh CBSE students,” he said in a post on X.
• In a statement, Aam Aadmi Party national convenor Arvind Kejriwal said, “Modi Ji has thrown down a challenge that the education minister will not be changed, no matter what people do.”