CBSE 12th 2026: Apply for re-evaluation from May 19

In short

CBSE issued an official statement today, October 29, 2026, defending its On-Screen Marking (OSM) system for the Class 12 Result 2026.
The overall pass percentage for CBSE 12th 2026 dropped by 3.19% to 85.2%, the lowest in seven years.
Students can apply for photocopies of answer sheets from May 18 and re-evaluation of marks from May 19.
The Allahabad High Court has received a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) alleging large-scale discrepancies due to the OSM system.
Approximately 9,866,000 answer sheets were scanned and evaluated digitally by around 70,000 evaluators.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) today, October 29, 2026, issued an official statement defending its On-Screen Marking (OSM) system and addressing student concerns regarding the CBSE 12th Result 2026 controversy. The statement, released on the board’s social media handle, followed widespread complaints of discrepancies in the evaluation process, particularly in subjects like Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Mathematics.

The controversy arose after the Class 12 results were announced on May 13, 2026, with many students reporting unexpectedly low marks, blurred scans, missing pages, and mismatched answer sheets. The overall pass percentage for the CBSE 12th 2026 exam dropped by 3.19% to 85.2%, marking the lowest pass percentage in seven years.

Board’s Defence of OSM and Re-Evaluation Process

CBSE’s official statement aimed to clarify the transparency and reliability of the OSM system, which was introduced to enhance fairness and consistency in evaluation. The board stated that the OSM system ensures step-wise marks are offered to students and that it provides facilities for re-evaluation and copies of evaluated answer books for students not satisfied with their marks.

The application process for re-evaluation of marks began on May 19, 2026, following the availability of scanned copies of answer books from May 18, 2026. Students must first obtain a photocopy of their answer scripts before applying for re-evaluation. The board also acknowledged a technical error where one student received another student’s Physics answer sheet, promising rectification.

Sanyam Bhardwaj, Controller of Examinations, was quoted stating, “my evaluation is going very perfectly, better than the previous evaluation.” However, students on Reddit described answer sheets as “completely illegible” and some claimed evaluators “marked them with red ticks and assigned arbitrary scores.”

Concerns and Allegations Surrounding the OSM System

Deploying the OSM system, which involved scanning approximately 9,866,000 answer sheets and digital evaluation by around 70,000 evaluators, has faced significant criticism. Students reported issues such as blurred scans, missing pages, unmarked answers, and unexpected marks, with some students who cleared the JEE exam reportedly failing in CBSE 12th 2026.

The digital evaluation contract was awarded to Coempt Eduteck, a Hyderabad-based educational technology firm that previously operated as Globarena Technologies Private Limited. Globarena Technologies was involved in a 2019 Telangana intermediate results controversy where evaluation errors led to over 380,000 students failing and 21 suicides, although the Supreme Court of India later cleared the firm of wrongdoing, calculating the actual evaluation error rate at 0.16%.

The board also faced allegations of circulating a communication toolkit to schools to defend the OSM system. Warning signs during a mock evaluation session on February 26, 2026, reportedly included portal access failures, slow system performance, and inadequate internet connectivity.

Legal Challenges and Statistical Anomalies

The Allahabad High Court has received a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) alleging large-scale discrepancies due to the OSM system. The PIL claims that only 5.3% of students scored above 90% and 0.97% crossed the 95% mark in 2026, which is allegedly the lowest in recent years.

The board received 4,04,319 applications for scanned copies of answer books. The initial deadline for receiving answer sheets was extended multiple times until May 25, 2026. Despite the board’s efforts, the post-result services portal for accessing scanned copies experienced crashes, rejected payments, and generated inflated fee demands, compelling CBSE to slash fees for scanned copies, verification, and re-evaluation. IIT Madras and IIT Kanpur were involved in stabilizing the portal.

Service	Fee
Scanned copy of answer sheet	Rs 100
Verification of marks	Rs 100
Re-evaluation per question	Rs 25

Students must secure at least 33% marks separately in theory and practical examinations to pass a subject. The board stated that it had to discard around 30 answer sheets due to issues like unclear images and duplicate entries.