New Delhi, May 26 (IANS) Congress General Secretary K.C. Venugopal on Tuesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, highlighting the “discrepancies” arising from the On-Screen Marking (OSM) introduced by the CBSE for Class 10 and 12, and demanding a one-time redressal for the impacted students.

“A government that cannot manage a simple secondary education exam, let alone cause the disastrous NEET fiasco, has no right to make tall claims of being a ‘Vishwaguru’,” said Venugopal in a message on X.

The Congress MP said, “The CBSE results have been a complete mess, with the digital scanning and evaluation system causing widespread panic among students because of the thousands of errors that have come to light. On top of that, the CBSE is arbitrarily charging exorbitant re-evaluation fees from these helpless students.”

In his letter addressed to PM Modi, Venugopal said, “I am writing to draw your urgent attention to the widespread concerns among lakhs of CBSE Class 10 and 12 students across India and in the Gulf countries.”

“The introduction of the new On-Screen Marking (OSM) digital evaluation system has resulted in catastrophic discrepancies, putting the higher education prospects and mental well-being of countless students in jeopardy. It is deeply alarming that students who appeared for these crucial board examinations are being forced to take to the streets for their due rights,” wrote Venugopal.

Pointing to students’ allegations of glitches in the CBSE’s payment gateway and allegedly arbitrary charges for revaluation of answer sheets, Venugopal said, “Students have reported showing arbitrary, exorbitant payment demands ranging anywhere from Rs 8,000 to an astounding Rs 69,420 for simple revaluation requests.”

He said that while the Education Ministry’s announcement to deploy technical experts from IIT Madras and IIT Kanpur to fix the portal is a welcome acknowledgment of the crisis, it only addresses the website’s functionality.

“It does absolutely nothing to fix the underlying reality that the initial digital evaluation itself was fundamentally faulty and compromised,” he said.

“The deadline for applying for a copy of the answer sheet expired last midnight. With the revaluation application deadline fast approaching on May 29, anxiety among the student community is peaking. Students should not be penalised financially, academically, or mentally for a colossal administrative and systemic failure by the CBSE,” he said.

“Therefore, I strongly urge your immediate intervention in the matter and provide a one-time redressal in a time-bound manner so that no student misses out on upcoming higher studies deadlines,” said Venugopal.

–IANS

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