Chandigarh: The state government is set to introduce a major reform in the evaluation process for board examinations, with the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) preparing to roll out an on-screen marking system for the March 2026 examinations.
Announcing the initiative, Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains said that Punjab will become one of the first state boards in the country to adopt end-to-end digital evaluation, marking a transformative shift in how answer sheets are assessed. Sharing details of the project, Bains said, "This digital system will enable teachers to evaluate scanned answer sheets on computers, with marks calculated automatically by software, ensuring faster and more accurate results."
The education minister further said that the system has already demonstrated its effectiveness. "The system has already proved its mettle by evaluating 23,000 answer sheets swiftly and accurately during the September 2025 Supplementary Examinations," he stated. Encouraged by these exceptional outcomes, the Punjab School Education Board will implement On-Screen Marking (OSM) in one subject of the matriculation examination this year, with phased expansion in subsequent cycles, an official statement said.
Explaining the technical safeguards, Bains said, "Each page of the newly designed answer sheet features a unique QR code, enabling secure scanning and seamless digital processing. Under the OSM system, answer sheets are scanned in a protected environment and uploaded to a centralised dashboard, where examiners evaluate them online with automated totalling, structured marking schemes and real-time progress monitoring."
Describing the reform as far more than a technological upgrade, Bains said, "It is not just an upgrade, it's a complete overhaul of evaluating our children's future. It will ensure every student gets fairness, speed and accuracy in examinations." PSEB chairman Dr Amarpal Singh underlined the student-first vision guiding the reform.
"This initiative reinforces Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann-led Punjab Government's commitment to integrity and efficiency. Students will benefit from reduced result timelines, standardised marking and complete transparency in evaluation. Our teachers, too, will work with a clutter-free digital interface that ensures consistency and systematic record-keeping," he said.
Singh informed that the board has completed all technical and administrative preparations for the March 2026 rollout. "The OSM system carries the guarantee of Punjab's commitment to its students," he stated.
(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
