Systemic Failure Or Isolated Glitch? CBSE Result Credibility Questioned After Answer-Sheet Mix-Ups Exposed

New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is facing intense scrutiny over the integrity of its 2026 examination results system. 

A widespread frustration over unexpectedly low Class 12 board results has escalated into a full-blown credibility crisis, after alarming evidence that the board switched and mismapped student answer sheets.

The controversy erupted after a Class 12 student, Vedant Shrivastava, went viral on social media with undeniable proof: a scanned photocopy of the Physics answer script through the official CBSE portal belonged to an entirely different student, with completely unfamiliar handwriting.

Following a massive online uproar, CBSE was forced to issue a public apology and email Vedant his actual paper. However, another student, Sanjana, reported an identical issue with her Chemistry script.

The OSM System Under Fire

Educators and tech experts point directly to the rushed implementation of CBSE's new On-Screen Marking (OSM) system as the root cause of the chaos. 

Introduced to digitise and speed up the grading process, the system has instead plagued the 2026 batch with significant operational failures.

Beyond completely swapped papers, thousands of students applying for photocopies have flagged severe technical discrepancies.

Multiple students discovered that scanned copies of their supplementary sheets, accounting for up to 22 marks, were missing entirely from the digital system, meaning those answers were never evaluated.

Glitches have revealed instances where correct Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) were marked wrong by the digital system, and in some cases, evaluated using impossible "half-marks."

Mirroring these systemic faults, the overall Class 12 pass percentage for 2026 plummeted by 3.19%, dropping to 85.20%, the lowest collective performance recorded by the board in seven years.

Severe Toll on Student Well-Being

Many of those facing unexpectedly low or failing board scores have already qualified for highly competitive national exams like the JEE Main. 

Because of these bureaucratic errors, their futures and college admissions are now hanging in the balance. The mental toll of these institutional failures has sparked deep concern among parents and doctors. 

In Delhi, a tutor revealed that his top-performing son had to be rushed to the hospital when his blood pressure dangerously dropped out of sheer distress over a misplaced physics supplementary sheet.

While CBSE has released a statement defending the overall transparency of the OSM platform and urging students to use the standard re-evaluation portal, the defence has done little to quell public outrage.

Also Read: CBSE Re-evaluation Portal Goes Live May 29