The issue related to the Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) On-Screen Marking (OSM) scheme will be put under the scanner, following a high-level discussion arranged by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education regarding students’ grievances against this controversial scheme. In this context, it needs to be noted that numerous issues have emerged relating to technical problems, discrepancies in assessment, and difficulties faced by candidates in verifying results after declaration.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education has invited the Secretary of the Department of School Education and Literacy, Sanjay Kumar, and the Chairman of CBSE, Rahul Singh, for discussions regarding the use of OSM. They will explain to the members the functioning of the OSM system, as well as the problems faced by the students in connection with the same. The noteworthy point about this hearing is that the representatives of CBSE students will also be present at the discussion. This will ensure that the committee hears first-hand accounts of the problems being faced by the students, especially in regard to the evaluation process.
In addition, the Committee has also directed the Director General of CERT-In, an acronym for Computer Emergency Response Team of India, possibly signifying that the members might focus on exploring the technology aspect of the issue at hand. The involvement of CERT-In becomes quite important, especially considering the controversies surrounding system glitches and the security of the entire digital evaluation system.
The Standing Committee is chaired by Digvijaya Singh of the Congress Party, and in addition to the aforementioned agenda items, it will be discussing the issue of implementing the three-language formula in classes 9 and 10. This is yet another policy proposal that has caused immense controversy within the educational sector and amongst the state governments. It is expected that the deliberations would enable an assessment of how well the shift to technology-based assessment techniques has been handled, and whether enough measures have been put in place to ensure that the interests of the students are safeguarded.
Also read: Fresh login issues plague CBSE re-evaluation portal
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