NEW DELHI: In a significant move to restore stability to the CBSE Class XII re-evaluation system after widespread payment failures and excessive deductions, the Education Ministry has announced that experts from IIT Madras and IIT Kanpur, along with four public sector banks, will assist in overhauling the online process.
Faced with a barrage of complaints from students and parents over technical glitches and huge excess amounts being deducted during the re-evaluation process for CBSE Class XII papers on its portal, the Education Ministry on Friday announced two major corrective measures.
Experts from IIT Madras and IIT Kanpur will assist the board in strengthening the process, while four public sector banks will help establish robust payment protocols to ensure a smooth refund mechanism.
Massive server disruption due to heavy traffic and deductions ranging between Rs 8,000 and Rs 67,000 instead of Rs 100 per subject were among the key issues faced by students applying for scanned marksheets on May 21 and 22. Some users also reported instances where payments lower than Rs 100 were deducted.
In a release, the Education department said Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has directed that professors and technical experts from IIT Madras and IIT Kanpur assist CBSE in ensuring a glitch-free re-evaluation process.
“The decision has been taken following reports of technical challenges in post examination services portal of CBSE,” it said.
The expert teams will implement focused technological improvements of the systems and technical workflows and will specifically examine portal stability and server performance.
“The team will also examine the overall IT Infrastructure robustness and assist in taking corrective measures to ensure that login authentication/ user access systems/ payment gateways are accurate and in order,” it said.
A major controversy broke out due to the On Screen Marking (OSM) system (online marking system) adopted for evaluation of answer sheets this year after results were declared on May 13, with thousands of students stating that their marks were much lower than expected. The overall pass percentage also fell from 88.39 per cent to 85.2 per cent this year.
Top education officials on May 17 announced a major overhaul in the re-evaluation process, including a reduction in fees. The fee for viewing answer sheets was slashed to Rs 100 from Rs 700, validation of sheets to Rs 100 from Rs 500, while the fee per question was reduced to Rs 25 from Rs 100.
Four public sector banks roped in Pradhan also held discussions with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the payment-related issues.
“During the discussion, it was decided that four Public Sector Banks - State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank and Indian Bank - will assist CBSE in strengthening its payment gateway infrastructure and necessary integration with the post-examination services portal,” another release from the Ministry said.
The banks will enable CBSE to put in place robust payment protocols to ensure timely payments, address payment glitches and facilitate automatic refunds for excess payments, if any.
Pradhan also directed CBSE to undertake a complete overhaul of its payment gateway system.
The release added, “It is envisaged that the coordinated efforts with the Ministry of Finance and Public Sector Banks shall ensure seamless digital transactions, improved payment gateway stability and a smooth experience for students availing CBSE re-evaluation and related services.”
Earlier in the day, CBSE had announced that excess amounts deducted would be refunded automatically to the same payment methods used for the transaction. Those who had paid less will be informed individually if any balance amount is required to be paid.