A big revelation has come to light amid questions being raised on the On-Screen Marking (OSM) system implemented in the CBSE 12th Board Exam. A technician who scanned the answer sheets made many shocking claims in a phone conversation with an ABP News reporter. Let us tell you that the reporter of ABP News had spoken as a 12th class student. This conversation has raised serious questions on the scanning process, quality of software and evaluation of copies.

Software and system failure

The technician described the software and hardware used for scanning as being of very low standard.

• Basic Software: There was a huge lack of optimization in the system. According to the technician, even a child could have made it. The software would frequently crash and lag.
• Fear of data deletion: If the entire copy could not be uploaded after being scanned, then the old data would be deleted and the entire copy would have to be scanned again.
• Bad Hardware: A Logitech webcam fitted on a frame was used for scanning. Many systems were low-processor. A paper was saved in a few KB, yet the system used to hang.

Who was scanning the copies?

The hands in which the responsibility of uploading the answer sheets of the students was not professional.

• Freelancers and Students: Most of the people doing the scanning were part-time working undergraduate students, studying AI, BCA, BTech or B.Com.
• There is no point in reading: The technician said clearly, ‘We just have to scan and read the copies.’
• Low pay and long shifts: Only Rs 2 was given per copy, which has not been paid yet. The shift used to run from 9 am to 6 pm and then from 8 to 11 pm without any holiday. Working overtime, one person could scan up to 700 copies a day.

Fear of backlog and missing copies

• Constantly increasing backlog: According to the technician, the backlog was increasing due to continuous arrival of papers. He expressed apprehension that the copies of some students may not have reached the scanning level.
• Pending Bundle Problem: There were 60 to 100 copies in a bundle. If there was any problem in even one answer sheet like a torn page or a cheating slip, the entire bundle was put in pending. Such copies were later sent for manual checking.
• Work even after exams: Even after the exams ended on 10th April, work continued at the center till 12th April. About 35 thousand papers had come to one center, out of which 10 thousand had gone into the backlog.

Gross negligence in quality check

• Blur copies passed: Due to flaws in the quality check process, many blurred copies were also sent forward for checking.
• Automatic Rejection: Due to software problems, many copies were automatically rejected by the system and could not go ahead for checking. It took about 15 minutes to scan a batch, after which it went to quality check.

Missing monitoring and security system

The technician claimed that there was no police or official inspection at the centre.

• Absence of officers: Neither the police nor any CBSE official came to the center for inspection.
• Route of Copies: CCTV cameras were installed at the center and only authorized people were allowed entry. After scanning, the copies were sent directly to CBSE for checking through the server at night.
• Use of small centres: Small villages and government colleges around Tier-1 cities were made scanning centres, where it was not known which company was getting the work done.

This revelation puts a big question mark on the claim of CBSE that the OSM system was said to be transparent and bring uniformity in evaluation.

Also read: Students stuck on CBSE re-evaluation portal, problems in getting scanned copy increased.

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