NEW DELHI: A day after Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan directed the Indian Institutes of Technology to assist the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in resolving persistent technical glitches in its post-result services portal, Indian Institute of Technology Madras on Monday said it had deputed a special technical team to Delhi to investigate the issues and recommend both immediate and long-term fixes.
Responding to queries from this reporter, an IIT Madras spokesperson said that “a couple of faculty/staff” with experience in handling large-scale web portals and related hardware and software infrastructure would be sent to support CBSE.
“Their primary role is to perform a root-cause analysis and suggest quick remedies, if needed, followed by long-term solutions that will ensure a robust platform for the children,” the spokesperson said.
The institute said the duration of the engagement would depend on the nature of the problems identified and that the team would remain associated with the project “till the platform becomes robust”.
According to the spokesperson, the deputed personnel would include a project staff member to assist with “data analytics and analysing logs”, along with a senior faculty member who has handled “a lot of work in this direction”.
The intervention comes amid mounting complaints from students and parents over repeated failures in CBSE’s newly launched digital evaluation and post-result services system.
The portal, which opened on May 19 for students seeking scanned copies of answer sheets and other post-result services, reportedly faced disruptions almost immediately. Users said the website frequently failed to open during the first two days. While the portal began functioning more consistently on May 20, fresh complaints soon emerged over blurred answer sheets, missing payment receipts and delayed confirmations.
By the fourth day, several candidates allegedly claimed that they were charged excessive amounts while applying for scanned copies of answer sheets. According to complaints posted online and shared with CBSE, deductions ranged from the prescribed fee to amounts as high as Rs 69,000 for a single application.
Facing growing criticism, CBSE issued three separate circulars extending the application deadline and acknowledging technical issues. In an official notice issued on May 24, the Board admitted that between May 21 and 22, some students had been overcharged while others were undercharged due to “technical issues” in the payment system.
CBSE said excess payments would be automatically refunded to the original mode of payment.