New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), India’s largest school examination body responsible for conducting board exams for lakhs of students every year, has been under constant criticism for handling the process of accessing Class XII answer sheets after its online portal remained inactive for over 24 hours.What should have been an important and time-sensitive grievance redressal process for students has now turned into a nationwide exercise in frustration, confusion and digital helplessness.The controversy started when the CBSE announced that the application window for getting scanned copies of the examined answer books will open on May 19, 2026. However, students trying to access the portal reported a wide range of failures, from login errors and invalid tokens to endlessly loading captchas and completely inaccessible pages.Even as students flooded social media and the comment section of TOI Education with complaints, CBSE initially maintained that the portal had gone live.But after more than 24 hours, the board quietly withdrew the answer sheet link from its official website entirely – effectively acknowledging the scale of the technical glitch.On Wednesday afternoon, CBSE issued a circular acknowledging that the online application process is “currently experiencing technical glitches” and said that “a team of experts is addressing the issue” and that the portal is expected to be live again by 2 pm.However, as of publication, students continued to report that the portal was inaccessible.For millions of Class 12th students anxiously waiting to review the certified answer books or re-examine before deciding whether to review the certified answer books, the delay is not just a technical inconvenience – it directly affects academic timelines, admission planning and mental stress in an already stressful period.Outrage among students is intense and widespread.“The height of stupidity, the CBSE revaluation site is still not working,” wrote Kunjal Sharma, echoing the sentiments of thousands of people who tried to log in repeatedly since morning.Another student, Palak Kumari, wrote: “The CBSE revaluation site is not working. I have been trying since 10:00 am today.”Several students questioned how an organization of CBSE’s scale could fail to prepare for the expected surge in traffic despite announcing pre-scheduled application dates.“Constant effort for last 24 hours. Still no success. What is CBSE’s IT team doing? Total failure,” wrote Ranjit Sinha.“This is a complete failure of our education process and system. So little preparation…no official word from CBSE on portal issues shows their accountability,” commented Arun, another reader.Others pointed to the emotional and academic burdens that balance the already competitive entrance exams and college admissions process on students.“Should students prepare for admission or keep wasting time since morning applying for re-evaluation? Such an unprofessional board,” wrote Brinda Chakrapani.The technical failures reported by students appear to be widespread and systematic rather than isolated. Complaints include non-loading captchas, “invalid token” messages, failure to register, failure to retrieve candidate details and frequent server crashes.“Login is successful but getting issues with captcha, invalid token and error message like ‘Photocopy window is currently closed for this class’,” Ranje Singh wrote.“System running extremely slow. Can hardly log in but beyond that,” noted another student.The furor has also raised broader questions about the digital readiness of major examination bodies in India. Many students drew parallels with previous failures during high-stakes examinations and counseling processes conducted by national agencies.“Such a big organization CBSE and NTA… can’t they prepare well for re-evaluation?” asked a reader.The irony has also not gone unnoticed. CBSE, which routinely imposes strict procedural deadlines and compliance expectations on students and schools, now finds itself unable to ensure smooth functioning of the primary grievance redressal portal during one of the most critical post-result phases of the academic calendar.What has fueled the criticism is a perceived communication vacuum. Students say the portal failure was not acknowledged in time during the initial hours of the shutdown, even as public complaints multiplied.The board has now extended the last date to apply for scanned answer sheets till May 23. However, many students are calling for a longer extension, arguing that a one-day extension is pointless if the portal itself remains inaccessible to most applicants.The current phase is particularly important as students first need to get copies of their checked answer sheets between May 26 and May 29 before deciding whether to verify or re-evaluate their marks.Any delay in accessing answer books therefore compresses an already narrow window for decision-making.CBSE Controller of Examinations Dr Sunim Bhardwaj had earlier admitted that there could be errors in evaluation given the massive evaluation of around 1.25 crore answer scripts annually.Yet students say that acknowledging potential assessment errors makes the assessment process even more important to work smoothly and transparently.Instead, many are now caught between uncertainty about their numbers and uncertainty about whether the portal itself will be operational before the deadline.For an institution responsible for shaping the educational future of millions, the ongoing answer sheet portal crisis has become more than just a technical failure – it is increasingly being seen as a test of accountability, preparedness and institutional credibility.
