After Complaints and Controversy announcement of the new CBSE Chairman and Secretary
The names of the new Chairman and Secretary of CBSE have been announced. Amid the controversy surrounding the OSM (On-Screen Marking) system, the government on Tuesday appointed senior IAS officer Lokhande Prashant Sitaram as the new head of CBSE and Varun Bhardwaj, a 2008-batch Indian Information Service officer, as the new Secretary of CBSE.
Earlier, the government had transferred CBSE Chairman Rahul Singh and CBSE Secretary Himanshu Gupta and constituted a committee to investigate issues related to the procurement of services for CBSE’s On-Screen Marking (OSM) system. According to a Cabinet Secretariat memorandum issued on Tuesday, the committee will be chaired by S. Radha Chauhan, Chairperson of the Capacity Building Commission.
Chauhan has been authorized to seek assistance from officials of other departments if required. The Capacity Building Commission will provide secretarial support to the investigation panel. The panel has been tasked with submitting its report to the Department of Personnel and Training within one month.
Sitaram is a 2001-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer and is currently serving as Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs. Varun Bhardwaj is currently working as a Director in the Ministry of Education and belongs to the 2008 batch of the Indian Information Service.
CBSE came under controversy when some Class 12 students alleged that the scanned copies of their answer sheets uploaded by the board did not match their handwriting. This raised concerns about possible discrepancies in the matching of answer scripts within the OSM system.
Following this, students and parents expressed concerns regarding the implementation of the OSM system in the board examination process. The issue gained widespread attention and became a topic of national discussion because it affects the future of millions of students. As a result, the government also took the matter seriously.
This is why the board has faced criticism over technical glitches, payment failures, and delays in the verification and re-evaluation process, leading to demands for greater transparency and accountability.
