PM only cares about survival of his govt, not children's future: Rahul

Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Friday intensified his attack on the Centre over the CBSE’s On-Screen Marking (OSM) controversy, accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of remaining silent on the issue and failing to act against the education minister despite widespread complaints from students and teachers.

In a post on X, Gandhi said he had demanded an independent judicial probe into the CBSE’s OSM system and the awarding of the contract to technology firm COEMPT from the very beginning, arguing that students deserved transparency over how the system was introduced.

Sharing media reports on the issue, the leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha urged people to read them closely. According to Gandhi, the CBSE issued tenders for the OSM project three times before awarding the contract.

“CBSE called for OSM tenders thrice. Zero bids the first time. No qualified bidder the second time. And finally, the technical bar was lowered until COEMPT could clear it,” he said.

He alleged that technical requirements were progressively relaxed during the tendering process, citing changes such as reduced scanning resolution, removal of the requirement for robotic scanners, dilution of software maturity certification norms from CMMI Level 5 to Level 3, and the elimination of penalties linked to answer-sheet errors.

Gandhi pointed out that Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which he described as India’s largest IT services company, had qualified in the third bidding round but was not awarded the contract.

“TCS lost. COEMPT — a company with a spectacular track record of failure — won,” he said, linking the tender process to complaints raised by students over blurred scans, missing pages and problems with the evaluation portal.

The Congress leader said teachers had cautioned the CBSE that the OSM framework required at least one to two years of preparation before a nationwide rollout, but their warnings were ignored. “So I ask again — who wanted COEMPT to win? Who lowered the bar, step by step, until this company could clear it?” Gandhi asked.

Rejecting the CBSE and Education Ministry’s position that “due process was followed”, he said the central issue was whether the contract had been awarded honestly to the most qualified bidder capable of delivering the system effectively.

“The futures of 18.5 lakh children were handed to a company that could only qualify after the rules were bent for it,” he alleged.

Addressing BJP leaders who have criticised him over his comments, Gandhi reiterated his call for an independent judicial inquiry and suggested its scope be widened to examine all contracts awarded to COEMPT.

“And Modi ji, your silence on the CBSE debacle and inaction against the education minister tells the country what you actually care about — not the futures of lakhs of students, only the survival of your own government,” he said.

In a separate post, Gandhi referred to an earlier interaction with NEET aspirants and claimed students had lost confidence in the government’s handling of examinations. “One thing became absolutely clear during my meeting with NEET students — India’s youth no longer trusts Narendra Modi,” he said.

According to Gandhi, students told him question papers were being sold through platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram and had detailed knowledge of how alleged paper leak networks operated.

“They had just one question — if we know this, why don’t the government and institutions?” he said, adding that students themselves appeared to understand how the system could be fixed better than policymakers.

He also criticised the deployment of security personnel to protect examination materials, saying it reflected the scale of the crisis. “Patchwork fixes won’t cut it anymore. The entire examination system will have to be rebuilt from scratch, in collaboration with students, teachers and experts,” Gandhi said.

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh also weighed in on the controversy, citing media reports alleging repeated dilution of technical conditions in the CBSE’s Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for contractors handling the Class 12 OSM system.

Ramesh said the final RFP was issued only in August 2025, around six months before the board examinations, and claimed the board ignored recommendations to first conduct pilot projects at regional centres. “Clearly, the CBSE’s actions were characterised by undue haste and an attempt to dilute quality and student-centric provisions to ensure that OSM is adopted this year,” he said.

He raised a series of questions regarding the tendering process, including whether technical criteria were weakened at the behest of bidders, why provisions intended to minimise evaluation errors were removed, and what pressures or constraints influenced the board’s decisions.

Ramesh also questioned the urgency behind implementing OSM without regional pilots and asked whether adequate background checks had been conducted on COEMPT, which he noted was formerly known as Globarena and had faced controversies in the past. “Was there pressure from the Modi government’s political masters to ensure the contract went to COEMPT?” he asked.

The Congress leader demanded that the CBSE publicly release all documents relating to vendor selection, modifications to the tender conditions, the rationale behind the accelerated rollout of OSM, and minutes of meetings held before the examinations.

“Perhaps the Mantri Pradhan can answer these questions instead of mudslinging and politicking,” he said.

With PTI inputs