Teachers have joined students in blaming the new on-screen marking system for the low marks in the Class XII exams conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).
The Government School Teachers Association (GSTA) has blamed the OSM and urged the government to withdraw action against many teachers after Delhi government-run schools issued showcause notices to faculty for poor performance in this year’s exam.
The pass rate of students in both regions of Delhi plummeted this year.
Delhi West and Delhi East regions recorded pass rates of 95.37 per cent and 95.06 per cent, respectively, in 2025. This year, the pass rates of the Delhi West and Delhi East regions were 92.34 and 91.73 per cent, respectively. The national-level pass rate declined from 88.39 per cent in 2025 to 85.20 per cent this year.
After the decline, the Delhi government asked principals to take action against the teachers concerned. The schools have issued showcause notices to the teachers. Some schools have issued memorandums, which are written warnings on poor performance.
GSTA general secretary Ajay Veer Yadav has written to Delhi education minister Ashish Sood explaining the complications created by OSM that have led to the dip in marks.
Yadav told The Telegraph that the CBSE did not do due diligence before implementing such a massive system. The GSTA had suggested that the CBSE implement OSM on a pilot basis to understand the shortcomings. Adequate preparations, such as training of teachers to handle the technology, were not carried out, he said.
“The results, particularly the pass rate, are down nationally and also in Delhi. The main reason is OSM. Every fourth student has applied for a copy of the marked answer sheets. Teachers have taught students the way they do every year. But teachers are being blamed for the poor performance. This is unfair,”
Yadav said.
The CBSE had carried out OSM dry runs in six schools in January. The teachers
who participated in the dry runs had flagged several concerns, said a private school teacher who was part of one such run.
“The CBSE wants step-wise marking. This cannot be done for open-ended questions, which ask students to frame their own answers. Step-wise marking cannot be enforced. If we do that, the purpose of open-ended and competency-based questions will be lost,” said the teacher who did not wish to be named.
OSM wants the examiners to apply certain view icons to indicate that they have seen the page. There are boxes for step-wise marking, and marks have to be mentioned in the specified box. Examiners found this to be tedious, the teacher said.
The central government-run Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan saw a decline in pass rate from 99.05 per cent in 2025 to 98.55 per cent this year, while the pass rate of Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti schools dropped from 99.29 per cent to 98.47 per cent.
The authorities of both organisations have said they will issue showcause notices to teachers.
“If the pass rate is less than the average pass rate of KVs, the school principals issue showcause notices to teachers. Teachers are asked to explain the reasons for poor results. If the reply is not satisfactory, the school issues a memo. This year, the situation is different because of OSM. Our association will discuss the issue soon,” said a Kendriya Vidyalaya teacher.