CBSE OSM row revives questions over firm linked to Telangana’s 2019 Intermediate results controversy

XII of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). The controversy over the Online Screening and Scoring (OSM) system for class answer paper evaluation has brought Telangana into focus once again, with academics drawing parallels with the State’s 2019 Interim results debacle.

At the center of the latest controversy is Coempt Edu Tech, a company that runs the online assessment platform used by CBSE. The company is led by VSN Raju, who is the CEO of Globarena Technologies, which was involved in the digitized Interim exam in Telangana, which came under scrutiny following the controversy in the 2019 results.

The arguments and accusations regarding both issues are the same; that the technology was not tested for reliability before implementation. Now thousands of students have lost faith in the system.

Coempt Edu Tech is the new name of Globarena Technologies

CBSE’s OSM system has faced criticism from students, parents and teachers across the country, with complaints surfacing on social media regarding the portal crashing, students being subjected to blurry answer sheet scanning and technical glitches in the evaluation process. Opposition Leader Rahul Gandhi posted on social media reminding that Coempt Edu Tech is the new name of Globarena Technologies, which is involved in the Mid-tier brands debacle in Telangana. “Despite its controversial past, why wasn’t there a background check on the company?”

Although CEO VSN Raju claimed that the OSM platform had undergone extensive trial runs before adoption, reports proved otherwise. Reports that CBSE teams had warned against adopting the technology hastily and without adequate testing were also highlighted by Mr. Rahul Gandhi, who sought accountability from Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Telangana’s Interim Results Crisis in 2019

However, the controversy has revived memories of Telangana’s Interim result crisis of 2019, when irregularities in result processing triggered widespread protests across the State. More than 9 lakh students appeared for the exams, and the initially declared grades, which showed thousands of students failing or absenting, sparked public outrage. Many students’ lives were taken at that time.

Following the discussion, the Telangana government constituted a three-member expert committee comprising GT Venkateswar Rao, then Director General of Telangana State Technology Services (TSTS), A. Vassan and Nishanth Dongari of IIT Hyderabad.

One of the committee members, who asked to remain anonymous for now, recalled that the software had not been sufficiently tested to be adapted to such a large and sensitive system that caused problems.

The committee’s report concluded that the errors were caused by both human error and inadequacies in the design and implementation of the software application used for results processing. The technical observed that the agency did not complete the required application modules within the time periods specified in the work order and expressed dissatisfaction with Globarena Technologies’ overall work experience.

Based on the findings, the government adopted several recommendations, including changes to results processing mechanisms and consideration of action against those responsible. The then Education Commissioner Janardhan Reddy revealed the same to the media after receiving the report.

The issue also sparked significant political debate. In 2019, Telangana Congress Committee working president A. Revanth Reddy, who is now the Chief Minister, alleged that the company had close ties with influential political figures, including the then IT Minister KT Rama Rao, and demanded a thorough investigation into the processing of review data and contracts. The then Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government denied the allegations.

Mr. Reddy also alleged that Globarena and another Magnetic firm had also cheated JNTU Kakinada and a case was registered. It also released documents showing how an investigation was initiated by JNTU Kakinada and Globarena with a financial commitment of ₹ 268 crore for automation of the examination system.

Seven years later, although Globarena has been removed from the system, there is still no clarity on what to do about those responsible for the debacle. Hindu He tried to reach Mr. Raju for comments but he did not respond to calls.