The Central Board of Secondary Education ( CBSE ) collected ₹ 16.47 crore (unaudited) from students seeking scanned copies of evaluated Class 12 answer books, verification of marks and reevaluation after its 2026 board examinations, according to an October 14 reply to a Right to Information (RTI) application filed by HT on August 22.
The board said its finance division had not received any “sanction order” for payment to its on-screen marking (OSM) vendor, Coempt Edu Teck, for scanning Class 12 answer books, and that the finance section had no information on penalties imposed on the company.
CBSE disclosed ₹ 3.57 crore (unaudited) in refunds to candidates whose marks increased following reevaluation, equivalent to 21.68% of the combined collections. One student who usually topped a subject saw his marks rise by 30 after reevaluation, the principal said, adding that delays cost several students opportunities to apply to foreign universities. CBSE conducted its Class 12 examinations from February 17 to April 10 and declared results on May 13, with the pass percentage falling to 85.20% from 88.39% in 2025. Amid concerns over OSM, the board on May 17 reduced fees for scanned answer books from ₹ 700 to ₹ 100 per subject, verification of marks from ₹ 500 to ₹ 100, and reevaluation from ₹ 100 to ₹ 25 per question. A student who appeared for the 2026 examinations said portal glitches prevented him from submitting a reevaluation request for 32 questions across five subjects, which he believed could have increased his score by 27 marks. “I had paid ₹ 500 and had got all my scanned copies. I had my IISER Aptitude Test (IAT) on June 7 and after coming back to home following examination, I filled in all 32 questions for re-evaluation by 10.45 pm on June 7, but the portal logged me out and I could not log in again despite trying for an hour,” he said. A Delhi school principal said more than half of the school’s Class 12 students applied for reevaluation. A former Class 12 student now studying at Delhi University said she spent around ₹ 1,000 on scanned copies, verification and reevaluation for five subjects in which her marks were below expectations. Her overall score rose from an expected 88% to 89.9%, short of the 92% she had hoped for. Another student said his marks increased by five to 15 marks across subjects, raising his overall percentage from 89% to 92%, but he too received no refund.
However, it did not disclose the number of beneficiaries, the total number of unique students who applied for the three services or subject-wise changes in marks. “OSM evaluation and re-evaluation was a big mess. It also promised a full refund if a candidate’s marks increased following reevaluation.
Several students told HT they received no refund despite an increase in their marks. I have never seen so much chaos in my decades of experience as a teacher and a school administrator,” said a principal of a CBSE-affiliated school in Gurugram, requesting anonymity. “One student’s marks rose from 78 to 100 in one subject, while three to four students secured full marks in their respective subjects after the re-evaluation process,” the principal said. “The evaluation process has not been student-centric,” the principal added, describing the experience as one of “days of harassment and heightened anxiety. “Although my marks increased across subjects, I did not receive any refund,” she said.
