The Ministry of Education on Sunday dismissed concerns that the On-Screen Marking (OSM) system affected students’ scores in the CBSE Class 12 examinations and announced a sharp reduction in revaluation and answer sheet verification charges to ease anxiety among students.
Addressing a press conference in the national capital, School Education Secretary Sanjay Kumar said the digital marking process was not new for the CBSE and maintained that special attention had been given to ensure accuracy and transparency in evaluation.
"As you are aware, the Class 12 results recently declared by the CBSE were marked using an On-Screen Marking (OSM) system this time. Following this, certain concerns have been raised--specifically, students feel that the overall pass percentage has declined. Indeed, the pass percentage has dropped by 3 per cent compared to the previous year, falling from 88 per cent to 85 per cent. Some students feel that they should have received higher marks than those actually awarded to them," he said.
Kumar said the OSM system was first introduced by the CBSE in 2014, but could not be continued then due to technical infrastructure limitations.
"I would like to emphasise that On-Screen Marking is neither a novel concept nor is this the first time it has been implemented. The CBSE first initiated the OSM system in 2014; however, at that time, due to technical infrastructure limitations, it was deemed unfeasible to continue the process immediately. We have successfully reintroduced it this year," he said.
According to officials, nearly 98 lakh Class 12 answer sheets were scanned and evaluated digitally under a three-level security mechanism.
"98 lakh sheets scanned were for class 12, three levels of security were followed during the process. It was found that despite repeated scanning, there were still some legibility issues because the ink used in some answer sheets was of a very light colour. Even after scanning, those scripts could not be made fully legible," Kumar said.
"In such cases, the examiners were instructed to evaluate the scripts manually and award marks accordingly. More than 13,000 such answer sheets were separately identified and manually checked. After manual evaluation, the marks obtained were entered into the system.
"Special attention was given to the security levels and related issues so that the marking carried out through on-screen evaluation remained accurate, completely transparent and fair," he added.
Kumar said one major advantage of the digital system was the elimination of totalling errors that occasionally occurred during manual evaluation. He added that teachers involved in the process were specially trained for the new system.
Amid concerns raised by students and parents over lower scores and the decline in pass percentage, the CBSE also announced a reduction in fees for accessing answer sheets and revaluation.
"The CBSE has decided this time that if students wish to view their answer sheets, they can do so by paying a fee of Rs 100 instead of Rs 700. If they want verification or validation of the answer sheet, that too will cost Rs 100 instead of Rs 500. If they want any particular answer rechecked, the fee will be Rs 25 per question," Kumar said.
"We have decided that if, during re-evaluation, a student's marks increase, then the amount paid for re-evaluation will be refunded to the student," he said.
(With inputs from ANI, PTI)
