The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) announced the Class 12 results in mid-May 2026, but the rollout of its On-Screen Marking (OSM) system has drawn widespread criticism from students, teachers, and parents. Complaints emerged after the window to obtain scanned copies of answer sheets was opened, revealing several irregularities in the evaluation process.
Students reported that answer scripts of other candidates were allegedly uploaded under incorrect roll numbers. Many scanned copies were described as blurry, truncated, or unreadable, which left several answers unchecked. Teachers involved in OSM evaluation stated they were sent to centres without proper training on the software and had to learn the system while checking live answer scripts.
Teachers further alleged that strict daily targets made it difficult to notice answers written in corners or in unusual handwriting. Mathematics and Physics evaluations were particularly affected by fatigue during step marking. The CBSE had recommended conducting pilots across all 22 regional offices before full implementation, but no such large-scale pilots were carried out.
Instead, only around 100 teachers from five Delhi schools participated in a two-day dry run held in January. After repeated scanning failures, approximately 13,583 answer books were eventually checked manually, raising questions about the preparedness and efficiency of the digital evaluation system.
The Board announced the implementation of OSM on February 9, a week before the Class 12 board examination commenced on February 17, 2026. Demonstrations, webinars, and mock assessment sessions were conducted, but many school principals and evaluators felt those efforts lacked the depth and scale required for a nationwide transition.
A nationwide webinar on OSM was held on February 13, attended by all schools and their teachers. The training portal opened on February 15 for evaluators to practise on previous years’ answer books. At a press conference on May 17, officials stated that nearly 300,000 teachers logged into the portal for training, while around 77,000 eventually participated in the evaluation.
The CBSE Class 12 board results were announced on May 15. The application link to obtain scanned copies of answer sheets was activated on May 19 and closed on May 25, 2026. Compared to the previous year, applications for scanned copies increased by 208 per cent, indicating a sharp rise in requests.
