The controversy surrounding the Central Board of Secondary Education post-result verification process has taken a serious turn after a Class 12 student alleged that the Chemistry answer sheet uploaded by the board during the re-evaluation process did not belong to her.
The issue comes at a time when several students across the country have already been complaining about technical glitches in CBSE’s post-result system, including portal crashes, failed payment transactions, and blurred scanned copies of answer sheets. However, this latest case has raised deeper concerns over whether answer sheets are being correctly mapped and digitised by the board during the verification process.
“Only the first page was mine”
Speaking to The Free Press Journal, the student, identified only as Sanjana, said she had applied to access scanned copies of her answer sheets after feeling that her Chemistry marks were unexpectedly low.
According to her, the process itself was difficult because the portal repeatedly failed to load.
“It was not loading for a while. I had to try multiple times. But when it finally opened, I noticed that only the first page, the page carrying my details and handwriting belonged to me,” she said.
She alleged that the remaining pages were entirely different.
“All the internal answer pages were not mine. It was not my handwriting at all,” she claimed.
Sanjana further stated that she has not proceeded with the re-evaluation process for Chemistry because she believes the uploaded answer booklet itself is incorrect.
“I am not going ahead with re-evaluation using this answer sheet. I want my original answer sheet to be checked,” she said.
Family says they could not reach CBSE
Harsh, Sanjana’s elder brother, also spoke about the issue and said the family immediately emailed the board after discovering the mismatch.
“The first page belongs to her, but the rest of the pages do not belong to her at all. Even the handwriting is different,” he said.
According to him, the family tried contacting CBSE through the helpline numbers listed on the website but was unable to connect.
“There is a toll-free number provided by CBSE, but it kept showing busy. Other numbers were either inactive or unreachable,” he alleged.
Harsh said the family is not looking to create controversy but simply wants the board to verify the original answer sheet and correct the issue if an error has occurred.
“If CBSE takes action and provides the correct answer sheet, that is enough for us,” he said.
Student raises an issue publicly on social media
The matter gained wider attention after Sanjana shared screenshots and details of the alleged mismatch on social media platform X.
In one of her posts, she wrote that the scanned Chemistry answer sheet uploaded under her credentials did not match her handwriting or written responses. To support her claim, she also shared portions of another answer sheet, stating that it reflected her actual handwriting style.
She additionally shared screenshots of an email sent to CBSE, in which she described the issue as “serious” and requested urgent verification of her original answer script.
In the email, she reportedly informed the board that the answers shown in the uploaded Chemistry copy were completely different from what she had written during the examination and claimed that the discrepancy could have affected her marks significantly.
Questions raised over transparency in OSM system
The case has once again put focus on CBSE’s newly introduced digital post-result mechanism, often referred to by students as the OSM system.
While some students have appreciated the fact that scanned copies are now being made available online, several others have raised concerns over transparency, accessibility, and technical reliability.
Interestingly, Harsh acknowledged that the digital access system at least helped them identify the discrepancy.
“One good thing is that we received the answer sheet copy. Because of that, we could actually see that something was wrong,” he said.
He, however, added that such mismatches should never happen in the first place, especially in a national-level board examination process affecting lakhs of students.
As of now, CBSE has not issued any official statement regarding the allegations made by the student and her family.
This is not the first time, the board has messed up the answer sheet. Earlier today, another student named, Vedant Shrivastava, a Class 12 candidate stated, "The Physics answer sheet sent by CBSE is not my answer sheet at all. I know this is not my handwriting and it did not have the questions I attempted."
He further added, "Not just me, my family, teachers, and everyone who knows my writing immediately noticed the difference. The handwriting style, letter formation, spacing, slant, sentence flow, everything is different. This is not a minor variation. It is completely different writing."
