The Congress on Friday intensified its attack on Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the controversy surrounding the Central Board of Secondary Education's (CBSE) On-Screen Marking (OSM) system, alleging that the board was compelled to adopt an expensive evaluation mechanism at inflated rates and demanding his resignation to facilitate an independent probe.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh claimed that concerns over the cost of implementing the OSM system had already been raised within the CBSE. He pointed to the CBSE Governing Body's December 2024 meeting, where the "financial implications of implementing On-Screen Marking (OSM)" were flagged as being "substantially high" compared to existing evaluation practices.
Citing a report published in an English daily, Ramesh alleged that the estimated value of the CBSE's OSM contract rose significantly despite the volume of work remaining unchanged.
"It was Rs 28 crore in the first two tenders issued by the CBSE but rose to Rs 38.46 crore in the final work order issued to COEMPT," he alleged.
Ramesh further claimed that based on the actual number of answer sheets scanned, the value of the work should have been considerably lower.
According to him, the work's value should only be around Rs 25.39 crore, which is approximately 66 per cent of the amount stated in the work order.
The Congress leader also referred to the recent meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, claiming that CBSE officials failed to adequately respond to questions related to the procurement process after hearing submissions from 18-year-old whistleblower Sarthak Sidhant.
"The CBSE was unable to answer the procurement-related questions posed by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education after it heard from 18-year-old whistleblower Sarthak Sidhant in its meeting on Tuesday," he said.
Questioning the role of the education minister, Ramesh said, "That is because only one man, the Mantri Pradhan, can speak to how and why the CBSE was made to adopt an expensive OSM system at inflated rates, despite the Governing Body's concerns about the cost."
"Pradhan must resign so that an independent investigation can occur into CBSE. Otherwise, the one-member committee set up by the Modi Government will remain an eyewash," the Congress leader added.
The remarks come amid a widening political controversy over the CBSE's digital evaluation process. The Congress has described the Centre's decision to remove two senior CBSE officials as an attempt to deflect attention from the issue, with Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi demanding that Pradhan be dismissed and a judicial inquiry ordered into the matter.
CBSE chairman Rahul Singh and secretary Himanshu Gupta were removed from their positions following allegations of irregularities in the board's digital evaluation system used for Class 12 examinations.
The controversy erupted after some Class 12 students alleged that scanned copies of their answer sheets uploaded by the CBSE did not match their handwriting, raising concerns about possible discrepancies in the OSM system.
In response to the allegations, the Cabinet Secretariat on Tuesday announced the formation of a one-member committee to investigate the procurement of services related to the CBSE's On-Screen Marking system.