CBSE OSM Systems Parks Controversy as Scripted Defence in Multiple Videos Go Viral

Hyderabad: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is facing intense criticism after almost identical videos were released of school principals in India defending the controversial Screen Marking System (OMS). This coordinated social media campaign appears to be the result of a “toolkit” provided by the board’s district official to counter widespread backlash over 12th grade assessment discrepancies.

Material for managers

The document in circulation, which is material for school principals, clearly instructs principals of schools, including government-run Kendriya Vidyalayas and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas, on how to defend the OMS system on social media, even offering specific scenarios. After the document was distributed, the videos spread to the social media pages of many schools.

The toolkit called on directors to describe the system as “transparent,” “accurate,” “technology-driven” and “faster,” and to reassure stakeholders by describing the Board as “highly proactive, empathetic and communicative on these teething issues.” The script advised principals to tell students not to panic and to use the formal reevaluation process if they noticed discrepancies between their performance and the digital pages.

Same Messages in Multiple Regions

Social media users noticed that principals from multiple districts were using the exact same words and phrases in their messages.

Anisha Sharma, Principal of Delhi Public School, Siliguri, described OSM as an “important step towards adapting technology” that is fair and transparent.

Sarika Singh, principal of a school in Surat, stated that 98 lakh answer sheets have been digitized; This figure was also expressed by government officials and it was claimed that the system minimized administrative errors.

Leena Nair, principal of New Era Secondary School in Vadodara, echoed terms like “standardised, transparent and eco-friendly”. In some videos, principals were visibly reading the script on camera.

Mandatory Support Claims

The controversy was further expanded by reports that students were now being forced to support and participate in the campaign. A Reddit user claimed that teachers were forcing students to post publicly on Instagram, stating that they had no problems with OSM control. Additionally, a video purportedly from the Kendriya Vidyalaya in Imphal showed the use of minors to promote the system as “fair” and “neutral”, and their use of children for government promotion drew widespread public outcry.

Complaints and Public Impact

This rhetoric escalated further after Grade 12 students claimed that scanned copies of their answer sheets did not match their handwriting, raising fears of major system incompatibility. There are also questions about the award of the digital evaluation contract to Coempt Edutech (formerly Globarena Technologies).

Lok Sabha opposition leader Rahul Gandhi questioned why background checks were bypassed, alleging a link between the government and the firm. CBSE shot down these allegations, calling them “inaccurate, misleading and factually unsupported”. Records show that CBSE’s relaxed norms for OSM were implemented in the third tender after failing to attract bidders in the previous rounds.

government response

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan took personal responsibility for the discrepancies while maintaining that OSM was a progressive tool for transparency. The government appointed an expert team from IIT Kanpur and IIT Madras to review the rollout of the system and digitize around 40 crore pages from 9.8 million answer scripts of 1.7 million students.

The government has also integrated the payment gateway with four public sector banks – SBI, Indian Bank, Bank of Baroda and Canara Bank – to facilitate post-result service payments and launched a 24×7 post-result support system for students.

Although the government had promised that no concerns would remain unresolved, the written instruments caused the public to question the Board’s commitment and true transparency.

(This Article is Written by Archana Prasad, Student of English and Foreign Language University, Intern at Deccan Chronicle)