New Delhi: Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Friday made fresh allegations of discrepancies in the CBSE’s process for awarding a contract for the On-screen Marking Scheme (OSM), seeking a judicial inquiry into the decision to pick an allegedly ineligible EdTech company for the task.
Sharing a news clipping on social media, Gandhi countered attacks on him by BJP Ministers for raising the issue and questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence and “inaction against the Education Minister”.
In the post, which came a day after Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan owned up responsibility for the glitches in the CBSE evaluation system for Class 12, the Congress leader made the insinuation that the contract for OSM was not awarded.
Accusing the government of showing unnecessary haste to implement the OSM system from this year, Gandhi alleged that a company called COEMPT was awarded the contract instead of TCS and several terms were diluted to favour the former.
“Pradhan ji and CBSE say ‘due process was followed’. That is not an answer; that is not accountability. The question is whether the contract was honestly awarded to the best company which could do the job correctly. The futures of 18.5 lakh children were handed to a company that could only qualify after the rules were bent for it,” said Gandhi.
“To the BJP Ministers attacking me for asking questions – I have, from day one, demanded an independent judicial probe. Expand it from CBSE to every contract awarded to COEMPT. Our youth deserve the truth,” said Gandhi.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the Union Education Minister have admitted glitches in the case of some students and promised to improve the system.
The case of a Class 12 student who was mistakenly sent another candidate’s Physics answer sheet sparked a nationwide debate on transparency and fairness in digital evaluation, raising wider concerns about systemic reliability.
In its defence, the CBSE on Wednesday rejected Gandhi’s allegations of impropriety over its contract with a particular education technology firm.
“It is erroneous, misleading, and not based on facts,” the CBSE posted on social media platform X.
“CBSE has followed the General Financial Rules protocols scrupulously in awarding the contract to the agency. CBSE floated the RFP for Digital Evaluation of Answer Books for Board Exams 2026 on the Central Public Procurement portal on August 28, 2025, and awarded the contract to the qualified bidder,” it stated.
(IANS)
