Videos of school principals across India defending the Central Board of Secondary Education's On-Screen Marking system have gone viral after using identical language [1].
The incident raises questions about the authenticity of the endorsements and whether the board influenced school leaders to suppress complaints about the digital grading process [3].
In the clips, various principals described the OSM system as "transparent, accurate, faster and technology-driven" [1]. The videos surfaced in July 2024, coinciding with a period of growing public complaints regarding the fairness and accuracy of the board's digital marking system [1, 3].
While some reports suggest the principals were making independent statements, other accounts indicate a different origin for the phrasing [1, 3]. Specifically, reports from MSN suggest that schools may have been sent a toolkit containing suggested scripts and talking points to ensure a unified message [3].
One principal in the viral footage said, "The OSM system is transparent, accurate, faster and technology-driven" [1]. The repetition of these exact descriptors across different schools has led to widespread social media scrutiny regarding the transparency of the CBSE's communication strategy.
The CBSE has not provided a detailed public response to the allegations that it distributed a toolkit to coordinate these testimonials [3]. The board said that the OSM system is designed to improve the efficiency and fairness of exam grading [1].
“"The OSM system is transparent, accurate, faster and technology-driven."”
The use of synchronized messaging by educational leaders suggests a coordinated effort by the CBSE to manage public perception during a period of institutional criticism. When a regulatory body provides scripts to the administrators of the schools it oversees, it can undermine the perceived independence of those administrators and create a trust deficit between parents, students, and the education board.
