Prime Minister Narendra Modi intervened in a national education crisis after the Central Board of Secondary Education's digital marking system produced massive result discrepancies.

The failure of the On-Screen Marking (OSM) system jeopardized college admissions for millions of candidates who could not access answer sheets or request re-evaluations before critical deadlines.

Approximately 1.8 million students were affected by the marking discrepancies [1]. The system caused widespread website crashes and prevented students from downloading their answer sheets, leaving many unable to challenge their marks before admission cut-off dates.

One student representative said, "Students are unable to download their answer sheets or apply for re-evaluation before the admission cut-off dates, putting their college prospects at risk."

Following the escalation of the crisis in May 2026, the government announced the transfer of CBSE Chairman Nipun Jain and Secretary Dr. S. K. Sharma on May 18, 2026 [2]. The Press Information Bureau said the Prime Minister took cognizance of the issue and directed immediate corrective action, including the transfer of senior officials.

Controversy surrounded the cause of the errors. While some reports indicated the board initially hinted that AI-based algorithms were part of the OSM system, a CBSE spokesperson said, "AI was not used in the marking process; the discrepancies are due to technical glitches in the on-screen system" [1].

The administrative shake-up follows a week of intense pressure from students and parents who reported incorrect marks across the online result portal. The transfers mark a rare direct intervention by the Prime Minister's office into the operational failures of a national examination board.

“AI was not used in the marking process; the discrepancies are due to technical glitches in the on-screen system.”

The crisis reveals the risks of rapid digitization in high-stakes national testing. By transitioning to On-Screen Marking without sufficient stability or transparency, the CBSE created a single point of failure that threatened the academic trajectories of nearly two million students. The direct intervention by the Prime Minister and the subsequent removal of top leadership signal that the Indian government views technical incompetence in public education infrastructure as a matter of national urgency.