THE NOT SO AWESOME OSM! (an open appeal to the entire CBSE stake-holders ecosystem)

Change is Good. And change always needs to be heartily accepted, because that is the one constant that has always taken humanity forward. The change that CBSE has aspired to bring in is a great initiative, especially in a country where the education system has more on less been stagnant for decades at a stretch. The awesome on-screen marking system a.k.a OSM that was recently introduced by CBSE surely needs to be seen as an innovative move in the right direction considering the technology explosion that we live in. Change sometimes feels awesome until the real outcomes start showing. And when those outcomes show their true colours, we might just need to change what we tried to change! Just like Finland, one of the most celebrated schooling systems in the world did, by recently starting to move away from screens in classroom! The ‘awesomeness’ of the OSM really needs to be seen through the lens of the outcomes it has created.

 A not so OSM! implementation timeline

There are really three key dates, and together they show how much (or how little) real practice time teachers got before checking live Class 12 scripts on screen. 

• The OSM introduction circular (CBSE/COORD/OSM/2026/4393) is dated 09-02-26. This circular tells schools that Class XII evaluation for the 2026 exams will be done through On‑Screen Marking and lists infrastructure requirements to be set up in schools. 

So, formal policy intimation came in early February 2026, just around or slightly before the Class 12 exams actually started (papers began mid‑February).

There are two important follow‑up documents:

 

1. “Digital Evaluation of Class XII Answer Books – Mock Evaluation and Monitoring Instructions”
• Circular dated 14 February 2026. It specifies that teachers can log in to the OSM portal using their OASIS ID, school code and date of birth for practice/dry‑run evaluation.

2. “Mandatory Mass Mock Evaluation of On‑Screen Marking (OSM)”
• Circular effectively schedules a Mass Mock Evaluation on 26 February 2026 for all Class XI–XII teachers.
• Purpose stated: familiarise teachers with the platform, test system readiness, and identify technical issues before actual evaluation.

  So, in theory:

• From 14 Feb 2026: teachers could start logging into the system and doing mock practice (if their school admin set it up quickly enough).
• On 26 Feb 2026: there was one nationwide Mass Mock Evaluation Day, compulsory for XI–XII teachers, to simulate real checking.

 How much time did that actually give before real evaluation? Class 12 exams themselves started around 17 February 2026. Evaluation for CBSE usually begins soon after the exams start, and for OSM the board was surely aiming to finish evaluation in a shorter window.

 Putting these timelines together:

• OSM decision circular: 08–09 Feb 2026
• Practice access circular: 14 Feb 2026
• Mass Mock day: 26 Feb 2026
• Class 12 exams & evaluation window: exams from 17 Feb; evaluation likely started in the last week of February / very early March.

 That means, in practical terms, most teachers got:

• About 10–12 days between the OSM policy announcement (9 Feb) and the first formal mock practice circular (14 Feb).
• Roughly two weeks (14–26 Feb) in which they could practise, but with real teaching and exam duties running simultaneously.
• Exactly one board‑scheduled “mass mock” day (26 Feb) where every XI–XII teacher was required to evaluate at least one script on OSM.

 From a fairness and readiness perspective, this is surely a very compressed learning period for such a high‑stakes, system‑wide shift—especially for teachers who are not very comfortable with digital interfaces or whose schools took time to set up logins, labs and networks. Considering the fact that there were no nationwide protests against such a hasty implementation schedule, it could be assumed that schools gave CBSE the benefit of doubt or were truly scared by the “disaffiliation threat” seen at the end of almost all circulars sent by the Board!

A not so OSM! Result

Though Thiruvananthapuram region of CBSE retained its top position in the 2026 results, school authorities, teachers and parents have been left in a shock after most students scored far less than expected. This reflects in the overall 95.62% pass percentage far down from the consistent 99% above figures over the last 3 years. Chennai region is down to 93% from 97% range over the past years. Prayagraj saw the biggest fall from an earlier 78% range to 72% this year. Vijayawada just collapsed this year from 99% to 92%. The fall was modest in Delhi regions. With the national decline being from 88.39% to 85.20%, it must be noted that nearly every region declined simultaneously in the awesomeness of this new OSM system!

The change lovers may be mighty impressed and would argue that technological intervention has led to more strict and transparent marking. But 2026 is quite unusual because the decline appears geographically broad, strongest in STEM subjects with Math and Physics disproportionately affected, and is accompanied by a collapse in top-end marks with the over-95% Club shrinking by over 30%! This kind of synchronised movement across almost all regions is a rarity in the history of CBSE and this is worrisome. Pass percentage drops can happen for an odd subject that had a harder question paper, but simultaneous collapse in top scorers in almost all subjects indicates distribution compression.

The 2026 OSM Results has resulted in:

1. simultaneous nationwide regional decline,
2. strong reduction in 90%+ scorers,
3. severe Physics/Math compression,
4. and widespread student and teacher reports of unexpected score drops

All of this occurring together at this scale is disturbing and surely points towards something more than a strict valuation. A strong argument here is that if at all there has been a chance of systemic hastiness (or unreadiness), the child should not be made the victim. It is imperative that all school authorities come together to raise their voice to ensure that every single child’s and parents concern is cleared transparently without procedural or financial burden put on the parent or the child. CBSE is and should be made answerable for this widespread compression of marks considering the fact that the Board has always stood for joyful learning practices and stress-free education.

Their latest policy document brings out a restructured system for re-valuation where the parent is to first request for the screen copy of the marked paper. They can then challenge specific questions. And all this has a financial implication on the parent. Considering the scale at which teachers and students are complaining of obtaining less than expected marks, a very strong representation is needed to ensure that any such question-wise payment made should be re-imbursed (with interest) in case it is found that there is a discrepancy in allotting marks. It is also important that the computerized systems abilities should be used to cross check subject wise mark allotment patterns in various camps across the nation so as to ensure that no child’s future is adversely affected. And the Board and only the Board needs to take the onus of responsibility of clearing all doubts of its stakeholders considering the urgency they showed in implementing this new system. School authorities need to show some bravery at least this time and should overcome the fear of the “disaffiliation threat” that comes as a disclaimer at the end of each circular!

We need Awesome Teachers not OSM Teachers!

Every single teacher in the higher secondary CBSE stream will have enough and more experience in judging the mark acquiring capability of their child. This capability would only have improved with their experience of participating in CBSE Valuation Camps in the yesteryears. The fact that a vast majority of these teachers are shocked by the low marks obtained by an alarmingly large number of their students truly points at a systemic error rather than a mere strict valuation issue. It is impossible by all practical logic that students across all regions fail to meet the expectations of these experienced teachers at such a large scale, spread across such vast regions.

The new two exam policies brought forward by CBSE for class 10 too needs to be brought into focus here. The new system, while leaning on to the NEP’s vision to ensure board exams stop being “high‑stakes, one‑shot, memory tests”, in all practical terms have put the 15-year-old child in ‘Board Exam Mode’ for 5 straight months at a stretch (from beginning of January where practical exams start to end of May where the second exam ends)! This fails the entire purpose of NEP envisioning 2 exams stretched across the year giving opportunity to each child to appear for the exam as and when he is fully ready.

Asking the teachers who are fully committed in preparing the students for the exam to take the full responsibility of exam supervision and valuation over these months is not only adding stress to the already over stressed teaching fraternity but is also adversely affecting the stress free exam preparation of the child during these 5 months because his Teacher as well as his Principal will be missing from the school, all busy with CBSE duty!

The unthreatening disclaimer!

Each word, logic, thought, opinion, suggestion mentioned in this article is solely that of the author. The author firmly stands disaffiliated from all Institutions, Students, Teachers, Parents and all relevant stakeholders while making his opinions and thoughts clear through this article. His heart goes out to all the disheartened parents, teachers, students and school authorities who put in so much of hard work believing in this system. His prayers go out to the souls who ended their earthly lives since when they were unable to withstand the unexpectedly low marks. And now, hopefully looks forward to how the Board, the School Authorities and the Parents would come out of their ‘fear-threat’ relationship and work as one common ecosystem, aiming at giving justice to the students from the CBSE stream who are going to compete with students from other boards in a state like Kerala where the KEAM Entrance Exam stipulates that within that Class 12 mark portion, the subjects will be split in Maths:Physics:Chemistry as 5:3:2 after standardisation. That is the reality into which these CBSE students are walking into with the unrealistically compressed Math and Physics marks in the 2026 Results!

Now, will CBSE disaffiliate their Schools for raising this issue or will the Students and Parents disaffiliate from these Schools is something that we all need to wait and watch! Whatever happens in the short term, the fulfilling long-term vision should be that every stakeholder in the system understand and accept the fact that what we need is not algorithms that work. It is more important that we build compassionate systems that remove stress across the entire examination system. It is even more important that we imbibe the ground realities across the nation to ensure that students of CBSE do not stand at the receiving end due to a systemic experiment. Fairness can be ensured only when CBSE authorities open their eye to clearly see the entire picture on what other state boards are doing to safeguard the interests of their schools and their students.

At the end of all the intended changes, technological or otherwise, we need to ensure fair stress-free treatment to every single student. And the now OSM teacher truly need to be allowed go back to being an Awesome Teacher! For such a landscape to evolve, all CBSE schools need to stand together without fear of the disclaimer at the end of the Board’s circulars!