New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Monday accused Indian National Congress' student wing, NSUI, of politicising the Class XII On-Screen Marking (OSM) row. A bench comprising justices Neena Bansal Krishna and Madhu Jain was hearing a plea filed by NSUI alleging "large scale irregularities and deficiencies" under the newly introduced OSM system.
The bench sought response from the Union Government through the Department of Education and CBSE and listed the matter for Friday. At the outset, CBSE's standing counsel raised a preliminary objection to the plea on the ground that it was filed by a political body. "It is a student wing of a political party. We do not want education to be politicised like this," he said, terming the plea "not maintainable".
The counsel appearing for the NSUI opposed the submission and said that though the NSUI was associated with a political party, "the same does not amount to a disqualification for filing the petition".
The court noted the submission and issued notice to the Board on the plea, directing it to file its response by June 12. During the hearing, the Board's counsel said that the portal "could not be opened indefinitely for a month" and that the grievances of the students were being addressed by CBSE.
The court was hearing the plea seeking an independent inquiry, citing technical issues and grievance related failures concerning the OSM system.
The NSUI claimed that the PIL has been filed "on behalf of lakhs of students" who appeared in the Class XII examinations conducted by CBSE under the OSM system.
The plea claimed that the system was introduced as a digital method of scanning and evaluating answer books.
"However, after result declaration, large numbers of students, parents and teachers across the country raised concerns regarding blurred scans, missing pages, incomplete uploads, mismatch of answer sheets, unexpectedly low marks and lack of a meaningful mechanism for manual verification.
The figure reflects an extraordinary level of concern and lack of confidence amongst students regarding the process," the plea claimed.
It added that "when such a large number of students seek scanned copies immediately after result declaration, the matter cannot be treated as a routine post-result formality."
