CBSE Appoints Lokhande Prashant Sitaram as New Chairman Following Rahul Singh’s Transfer

In a major administrative reshuffle, the Central government on Tuesday appointed senior IAS officer Lokhande Prashant Sitaram as the new Chairperson of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). This high-profile leadership change arrives at a critical juncture, as the national board faces intense scrutiny over its digital evaluation processes.

Alongside the new chairperson, the government named senior bureaucrat Varun Bhardwaj as the new CBSE Secretary, establishing a fresh leadership team to steer the institution.

Inquiry Launched into Digital Marking System

The sudden leadership transition follows the abrupt transfers of former CBSE Chairman Rahul Singh and Secretary Himanshu Gupta. Their exit coincides with the formation of a high-level, one-member inquiry committee set up to investigate the procurement of services for the board’s On-Screen Marking (OSM) system.

According to the official government order, the probe will be led by S Radha Chauhan, who currently serves as the Chairperson of the Capacity Building Commission.

Scope of the Probe: The committee is specifically tasked with investigating the procurement protocols and service contracts tied to the On-Screen Marking System. To ensure a thorough investigation, the chairperson has been granted the authority to recruit assistance from officials across various government departments as needed.

Students Raise Alarms Over Answer Sheets

The administrative shake-up follows growing unrest among students. The CBSE found itself at the center of a major controversy when several Class 12 students alleged that the digital copies of the answer sheets uploaded by the board did not match their actual handwriting. These discrepancies sparked widespread anxiety regarding potential systemic errors or mismatches within the automated OSM platform.

Profile of the New Leadership

The newly appointed officials bring decades of administrative experience to the table:

• Lokhande Prashant Sitaram (Chairperson): A 2001-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre, Sitaram steps into the Ministry of Education's top CBSE role from his previous posting as Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs.
• Rahul Singh (Outgoing Chairman): A 1996-batch IAS officer from the Bihar cadre, Singh has been reassigned to serve as Additional Secretary in the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare.