"Hopeful CBSE will answer my questions": Class 12 Student Sarthak Sidhant flags OSM tender discrepancies

Sidhant shared his findings in a detailed blog comparing multiple CBSE tender documents.

Speaking to ANI, Sidhant said, "There were many discrepancies. I have just compared them... Like, there were at least 15 discrepancies as per my blog. I would like to highlight three or four of them."

Sidhant specifically pointed out the On Screen Marking (OSM) tendering process. CBSE had issued three separate tenders, with the first removed from the Gem portal, the second failing all bidders in technical evaluation, and the third eventually awarded to an EduTech firm.

"The first discrepancy is that in the old tender, there were three clauses of poor performance, that the service... like the service provider, which happens to be Coempt, would be disqualified if they have poor performance. But in the new RFP, it was totally wiped out," Sidhant said.

He further highlighted changes in clauses related to blacklisting, financial qualification limits, CMMI levels, and project criteria that allegedly favoured the Edu Tech provider over industry giant TCS.

Asked why he pursued this research, Sidhant said, "I was working with Nisarg Adhikari, who is the ethical hacker. I was working with him, and he told me about Coempt, so that made my interest go into Coempt, and then I worked with the other journalists. So it was a collective effort, and I found some information on my own, and then I published it all in my blog."

On whether his work could lead to reforms, Sidhant expressed cautious optimism. "I am hopeful that CBSE will answer my questions. I have raised important questions through my blog. I hope CBSE will ensure transparency over the tender system. I hope the government of India also ensures that the tender system, the procurement websites, all are transparent, the data should be easily downloadable, and the more journalists, the more media houses should report on this," he said.

Sidhant also commented on the ongoing Online Scanning and Marking (OSM) system, which has faced criticism from students and educators. " I think OSM is a good change, I do not dislike it. But I think there should be wide rollouts first, and there should be good demo pilots. As many other reports pointed out, there were no good pilots, and it was not extensively tested. I think it should be implemented properly. Anything, any system you implement should be implemented properly," he added.

The student welcomed the recent government announcement that answer sheets would be provided along with marks from next year, Sidhant said, "This shall improve transparency. This... this is a welcome change," he said.

Sidhant also shared his personal experience as a candidate this year. "I did face some of it. I would say I was on the luckier side; not all of my pages were blurred, and it was okay. But I did feel like there were checking issues, there were marking issues which I will be sorting out after the re-evaluation process." (ANI)