The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has undergone a major administrative overhaul, with the Cabinet Appointments Committee appointing senior IAS officer Lokhande Prashant Sitaram as the new Chairperson and Education Ministry official Varun Bhardwaj as the new Secretary. This leadership transition comes at a critical time as the board faces intense scrutiny over the implementation of its On-Screen Marking (OSM) system. Following widespread allegations regarding evaluation errors and transparency, the government has officially established an inquiry committee to investigate the procurement processes and operational integrity of these digital marking services.

The controversy was brought to the forefront by Sarthak Sidhant, a Class XII student who recently testified before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education. Representing a growing group of concerned students, Sidhant highlighted significant discrepancies between physical answer sheets and their digital counterparts, further alleging that tender criteria were suspiciously modified to favor specific service providers. While the CBSE originally defended the OSM system as a tool for fairness, they have since acknowledged technical vulnerabilities within the OnMark portal, prompting the deployment of a cybersecurity expert team to address these critical security flaws.