The Central Board of Secondary Education's (CBSE) On-Screen Marking (OSM) system, designed to modernize the evaluation of Class 12 answer scripts, has plunged into crisis. Reports of incorrect answers marked wrong, missing answer sheet pages, and nearly 70,000 papers requiring rescanning have surfaced, casting a shadow over the integrity of student results. At the heart of this fiasco is Coempt Edutek, a Hyderabad-based software vendor with a history of controversy, which remarkably won the contract over bids from major players like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
A Troubled Past: Coempt Edutek's Predecessor
Coempt Edutek was previously known as Globarena Technologies, a name associated with the disastrous 2019 Telangana intermediate exam. During that incident, software issues led to 3.8 lakh students receiving incorrect or misleading marks, tragically resulting in 23 student suicides. A government committee probing the matter found systemic failure and negligence. Six months later, Globarena rebranded as Coempt Edutek, continuing its operations under a new identity.
Allegations of Irregularities in the Tender Process
Concerns have been raised regarding how Coempt Edutek secured the CBSE OSM contract. A Class 12 student named Sarthak, after reviewing CBSE's evaluation tenders, alleged several irregularities that seemingly favored Coempt. These included:
- Lowered Financial Baselines: Allegations suggest the CBSE reduced financial baselines for bidders.
- Compromised Security Certifications: Requirements for software security certifications were reportedly eased.
- Reduced Cooling-Off Period: The cooling-off period for engaging retired CBSE officials was allegedly halved from two years to one, potentially increasing influence.
- Removed Server Isolation: The requirement for physical server isolation was purportedly removed.
- Deletion of 'Blacklisting': The term 'blacklisting' was allegedly erased from the penalty matrix through a last-minute corrigendum issued just before bidding.
How Coempt Outbid Competitors
The tender process saw two initial attempts fail, with all four companies, including Coempt and TCS, failing technical evaluations. In the third attempt in August 2025, Coempt secured the contract by quoting approximately ₹24.75 per answer booklet (inclusive of taxes), significantly lower than TCS's bid of roughly ₹65-66 per booklet before taxes.
Rule Changes Benefiting Coempt
It is further alleged that a series of rule changes between the second and third tenders made it easier for Coempt to qualify:
- Revenue Threshold: The average annual turnover requirement for the last three financial years was kept high enough to block smaller players but low enough for Coempt to qualify by a razor-thin margin. Coempt's three-year average stood at ₹50.86 crore, barely above the ₹50 crore minimum, while a request from a smaller company to lower the threshold to ₹30 crore was refused.
- CMMI Level Reduction: The required Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) level for software engineering quality was dropped from 5 to 3, coincidentally matching Coempt Edutek's reported CMMI level.
- Data Centre and Source Code: New rules allowed third-party MeitY-empanelled cloud hosting (Coempt uses AWS and Azure) instead of mandating bidder-owned data centers, a change that disadvantaged TCS, which owns its centers. The requirement for bidders to own or control the complete source code of their software was also deleted, benefiting Coempt's platform, which reportedly runs on Microsoft's proprietary IIS.
- Shift in Penalty Structure: The penalty structure was altered to prioritize delays over mistakes. Old rules imposed substantial fines for errors like wrong scanning (₹4,000), merged pages (₹8,000), or unscanned books (₹15,000). The new rules replaced these with a flat ₹50,000 per day for delays, suggesting a focus on volume rather than accuracy or quality.
CBSE's Defense and Student Anxiety
The CBSE has defended the new OSM method, stating it was introduced to improve "transparency, fairness and consistency" in the evaluation process. The Ministry of Education also dismissed concerns, asserting the system is secure and aligns with global practices. However, these assurances have not appeased students, parents, or teachers.
Student Sarthak highlighted the immense anxiety caused by the episode, stating, "They gambled with our data security, our marks, and our mental health. The Institution failed us."
Unprepared Implementation
Educators expressed surprise at the system's implementation. A government school principal in Mumbai recalled similar digital evaluation experiments during the COVID years for Class 9, which were eventually dropped due to glitches. "It was not supposed to be implemented this year. We were surprised ourselves," the principal stated. Another private school principal from Bhubaneswar added that they were not part of any training exercise and were given very little time to train teachers, underscoring the rushed and unexpected rollout of the OSM for Class 12 in 2026.