Sarthak Sidhant, the 17-year-old student researcher whose investigation into the Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) On-Screen Marking (OSM) system sparked a nationwide debate has appeared before a Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children and Sports on Tuesday.
He will present his findings on the controversial evaluation mechanism.
The Class 12 student from Jharkhand was invited to brief the committee amid growing concerns over the implementation of the OSM system, which was introduced for the evaluation of CBSE Class 12 board examination answer sheets this year.
Sidhant first came into the spotlight after publishing a detailed blog examining tender documents related to the OSM project.
Talking to the media, Sidhant clarified that he is not opposing the OSM system, but he believes there should be more extensive testing before implementation.
“I think OSM is a good change, but there should be wide rollouts first and good demo pilots.” said Sidhant
In his analysis, he alleged irregularities in the procurement process and claimed that eligibility criteria were altered across multiple tender rounds, raising questions about the selection of the vendor responsible for implementing the system.
His findings quickly gained attention on social media and were cited by several political leaders and student groups demanding greater transparency in the board’s evaluation process.
