Class 12 students allege answer sheet mismatch, CBSE begins probe

The CBSE has taken up on 'top priority' the cases related to alleged mismatched answer sheets and other concerns faced by students in the re-evaluation process, a source in the board said.

Amid growing complaints over glitches and discrepancies in the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) re-evaluation process, some Class 12 students have alleged that the scanned copies of their answer sheets uploaded by the board did not match their handwriting, raising concerns over possible answer-sheet mismatch in the On Screen Marking (OSM) system.

The CBSE has taken up on 'top priority' the cases related to alleged mismatched answer sheets and other concerns faced by students in the re-evaluation process, a source in the board said.

The assurances came after a social media post of a Delhi-based Class 12 student, Vedant, went viral in which he alleged that the Physics answer sheet uploaded by the CBSE under the re-evaluation process was not his.

As the issue sparked an uproar with several other students also taking to social media with similar claims, the CBSE said this evening that a correct copy of his answer book has been sent to him and necessary action for updating his result is being undertaken accordingly.

CBSE Assures Action, Says Complaints Being Examined

"Whatever complaints are coming, online or offline, by any means, CBSE is actively taking them up," the source said while asserting that the board remains committed to helping the students.

They said senior officials are continuously engaging with students and parents to resolve their grievances and are 'providing all possible support to students'.

"It is not about a single child. Everyone whose request is coming is being attended to actively," the source said in reply to queries to Vedant's complaint.

Referring to complaints raised by other students as well, the sources said, "Not only one student, but all such matters are being examined seriously. In some cases, the issues have also been resolved."

Vedant's post, which garnered over 2.5 million views on X, said he and his family discovered that the handwriting in the Physics answer sheet provided by CBSE did not match his own.

CBSE has shared the correct Physics answer book with student Vedant and informed him that his result would be updated based on revised marks, following an evaluation discrepancy, sources said.

Screenshots circulating on social media showed an email sent on May 25 at 5.31 pm with the subject line 'Physics Answer Book' from a senior CBSE official, acknowledging the issue.

'Please find attached your correct answer book for Physics. Your result will be updated based on the new marks of Physics shortly,' the email stated.

In its reply to Vedant on X, CBSE said, 'Thank you for bringing your concern regarding your Physics answer book to our attention. Upon review, the matter has been examined, and the correct copy of your answer book has been sent to your registered email address.

'Necessary action for updating your result, as applicable, is also being undertaken accordingly.'

It added, 'We appreciate your patience and assure you of our continued support.'

Several social media users, however, initially trolled Vedant, questioning whether the newly-created handle was actually of a CSBE student, with some even calling him 'anti-national' and 'Pakistani', but others, including opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, came to his defence.

'After receiving unexpectedly low marks in Physics, we applied for photocopies of my answer sheets through the CBSE re-evaluation process. Today we received the copies. And I am shattered because the Physics answer sheet uploaded by CBSE is not mine,' the student wrote on X.

He claimed the Physics answer sheet differed completely from his English and Computer Science answer sheets, as well as from his handwritten notes.

'The handwriting style, letter formation, spacing, slant, sentence flow -- everything is different. This is not a minor variation. It is completely different writing,' he said.

Student Says Handwriting 'Completely Different'

Vedant further alleged that the Physics answer sheet 'looks like it belongs to another student entirely' and questioned whether his actual paper had been evaluated.

'If this is true, then what exactly was evaluated under my roll number? My paper? Or someone else's?' he wrote, adding that this is no longer just a 'rechecking' issue.

The student urged CBSE to verify his original physical answer sheet, audit the OSM tagging and scanning process, investigate possible exchange of answer sheets, and ensure that the correct paper was evaluated.

Responding to criticism on social media, Vedant's brother Siddhant Srivastava said the family had created the X account to raise the issue publicly.

"I am the brother of Vedant and I am appalled by seeing how people are calling us Pakistani. Yes, Vedant did not have Twitter because he was busy studying instead of tweeting, and we made this account for tweeting his genuine issues because we could not apply for reevaluation," Srivastava said.

Siddhant said the issue came to light after the family applied for re-evaluation of multiple subjects following dissatisfaction with his Physics marks.

"When I compared the Physics answer sheet with the other answer sheets, he (Vedant) said that it was not his. At first, I did not believe him, but when I independently checked it myself, I saw that the handwriting in the Physics answer sheet was completely different.

"The style of writing answers was different; everything was different. That is when I realised he was right," Siddhant told PTI Videos.

According to him, there was no formal mechanism available to report such a discrepancy.

"There was no option to report that the answer sheet itself was not his. That is why we had to take to Twitter to make CBSE aware of the matter," he said, adding that they had also emailed CBSE and posted a video on Instagram explaining the issue.

Social Media Trolling, Political Reactions Follow

Siddhant further claimed that after the post went viral, the family faced trolling on social media, with some users questioning their identity because the account location showed 'South Asia'.

"People began claiming that we were Pakistani because our account showed the South Asia region. Even some very prominent anchors and public figures, without verifying anything, claimed that since it showed South Asia, the tweet must have originated from Pakistan. That deeply hurt us," he said.

Calling for systemic reforms, he said issues in examination systems should be examined 'from the ground level' and proper testing should be conducted before introducing technological changes.

"NEET examinations get cancelled because of paper leaks. What fault is it of the students who worked hard and appeared honestly for the examination? Their exam gets cancelled despite no fault of theirs," Siddhant said.

"CBSE was an institution where such problems were earlier unheard of. But after the introduction of OSM, these problems are now surfacing in CBSE as well. Even if OSM has to be introduced, it should be implemented phase-wise and only after proper testing before being rolled out for the general public. No decision should be taken hastily," he added.

Meanwhile, another Class 12 student, Sanjana, also alleged on social media that the Chemistry answer sheet uploaded during the revaluation process did not match her handwriting.

She claimed that while the first page of the answer booklet carrying her personal details appeared to be hers, the internal pages did not match her handwriting.

IIT Experts To Examine Technical Issues

The allegations come amid complaints related to CBSE's post-result verification and re-evaluation process, including blurry scans, alleged missing pages and discrepancies in marks.

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has said that technical experts from IIT-Madras and IIT-Kanpur will examine all technical issues reported since the rollout of this year's post-examination re-evaluation services and assist the CBSE in ensuring a glitch-free process.