The debate over CBSE’s On Screen Marking (OSM) system has taken a new turn after a detailed blog written by a Class 12 student went viral on social media.The blog, written by Sarthak Siddhant, examines the tender documents related to the OSM contract awarded for the examination of Class 12 answer sheets. In the post, the student alleged that changes made in the tender terms in multiple rounds may have benefited Hyderabad-based Coempt Edutech, which eventually bagged the contract.The blog compares different versions of the tender documents and argues that several qualification and evaluation criteria were modified before the final award of the contract.Siddhant says he started studying the documents after students raised concerns about the implementation of the OSM system. His post, which runs to several thousand words, cites procurement records, tender clauses and financial disclosures to support his analysis. The student has demanded more transparency and asked CBSE to clarify the reasons behind the changes.Several opposition leaders shared the blog on social media. Among them was Rahul Gandhi, who claimed that the student results raised serious questions about the tender process and demanded an independent judicial probe.In a social media post, Rahul wrote, “17-year-old Sarthak Siddhant has exposed how CBSE manipulated its own selection process to benefit COEMPT using CBSE’s own documents. His blog details how CBSE changed the RFP to unfairly benefit COEMPT at the expense of TCS. Silent, as always, the question is simple: who are they protecting, and why?”The controversy comes amid the ongoing debate surrounding the CBSE’s digital evaluation system, which was introduced to check Class 12 answer sheets. The board has previously defended the system and rejected allegations that it compromised the accuracy or fairness of assessments.
