India's Education Minister Seeks Report on CBSE Technical Glitches

NEW DELHI: Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan has sought a detailed report from Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) after widespread complaints from students and parents over technical glitches during the post-result re-evaluation process, with the Centre bringing in experts from IIT-Madras and IIT-Kanpur and roping in four public sector banks to stabilise the system and strengthen the board's digital infrastructure. Meanwhile, CBSE has extended the last date for applying for scanned answer sheets for rechecking till May 25 midnight following the disruptions. Sources said Pradhan took serious cognisance of repeated reports of server downtime, payment gateway failures, login disruptions, blurred scanned copies of answer sheets and operational lapses faced by candidates applying for verification and re-evaluation of Class XII board papers. Officials have been asked to explain the reasons behind the technical failures, preparedness measures adopted before opening the re-evaluation window, and the accountability of agencies and vendors managing the digital infrastructure. The education minister directed that a team of professors and technical experts from IIT-Madras and IIT-Kanpur be deputed to assist CBSE in ensuring a glitch-free re-evaluation process following reports of technical challenges in the board's post-examination services portal. According to the ministry, the expert teams will implement focused technological improvements in systems and technical workflows and specifically examine portal stability, server performance and the robustness of the overall IT infrastructure. The IIT teams will also assist CBSE in taking corrective measures to ensure that login authentication systems, user access mechanisms and payment gateways function smoothly and accurately. Pradhan also spoke with Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman over the technical and payment-related issues faced by students during the process. Following the discussion, it was decided that four public sector banks - State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank and Indian Bank - would assist CBSE in strengthening its payment gateway infrastructure and integration with the post-examination services portal. The banks are expected to help the board establish robust payment protosscols to ensure timely transactions, resolve payment glitches and facilitate automatic refunds in cases of excess payments. Pradhan also issued directions to CBSE to undertake a complete overhaul of its payment gateway system. "Student interests remain paramount and all necessary corrective measures need to be undertaken by CBSE on priority to ensure a transparent, efficient and student-friendly system," Pradhan said in the statement.