Questions are being raised everywhere regarding the On-Screen Marking (OSM) system of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). Following complaints from students and allegations of alleged irregularities in the tender process, the Education Ministry has sought a detailed report from the board and has also started an investigation. Meanwhile, Coempt company also came into limelight which had won the most important Digital On-Screen Marking (OSM) portal contract of CBSE, leaving behind the big company like TCS.
CBSE’s online marking controversy has now reached the selection and tender process of the company which took over the responsibility of the board’s new on-screen marking this year. Leaving behind a world famous company like TCS, a small and unknown company named Coempt won this big contract of Rs 384 crore from CBSE, now questions are being raised on this entire process.
what is the whole matter
The Central Board of Secondary Education implemented the on-screen marking system on a large scale for the first time this year. In this, the answer sheets of the students are scanned and sent to the examiners in digital form and they are evaluated online there, but after the declaration of the results, many problems started coming to the fore.
Students and family members had to put in a lot of effort to open the portal. The re-evaluation portal did not open on time. Angered by this, students and teachers complained about various technical glitches in the OSM platform. After continuous problems, questions have started being raised on the tender process and company selection. Now the Education Ministry has also become strict on this matter and has asked for a detailed report on the OSM tender process from the Board.
Who got the tender for OSM?
According to sources, the Education Ministry is not completely satisfied with the explanations given earlier by the Board. The ministry is investigating whether there was any irregularity or negligence in the tender process. The robustness of cyber security and digital valuation systems is also being examined.
It is being said that if the fault of any officer is proved then action can be taken, that is, the matter is now not just about technical irregularities but has reached administrative accountability.
The work of on-screen marking was given to Hyderabad based company Coempt Edu Teck Pvt Ltd. This company won this contract by leaving behind Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), one of the largest IT companies in the country.
Coempt- How is the competition in TCS?
CBSE had fixed 2 rounds during the tender for the selection of OSM process. The first was the technical score. In this case, Coempt company got 91 points while TCS got 89 points. In this way Coempt went ahead by a margin of just 2 points. Both the companies got almost equal marks on many technical parameters.
Where did the biggest difference come from?
According to CBSE evaluation, Coempt company was considered more experienced in the field of scanning and digital valuation of answer sheets. Also, in the case of Subjective Answer Book Evaluation, Coempt company got full marks. Whereas TCS got 0 marks in this category. Coempt got the lead in this category.
As far as TCS is concerned, it is a very big company. According to a report, TCS’s turnover is worth lakhs of crores and it has about 5.8 lakh employees. In comparison, Coempt is a relatively small company.
Nevertheless, the tender was decided not only on the size of the company, but on the basis of fixed technical standards and experience. Apart from this, the price demanded by the company became the biggest issue in the matter of copy checking.
What is QCBS?
It is being told that Coempt demanded around Rs 25 for checking one copy, whereas TCS kept the price for it at Rs 53 to Rs 65. In this way, the expenses of Coempt Company were around Rs 384.6 crores while the expenses of TCS were around Rs 951.3 crores. In this way, a huge difference of Rs 566 crore was visible between the two companies. This financial assessment was also in favor of Coempt.
CBSE had adopted the Quality and Cost Based Selection (QCBS) model during copy checking. Under this, 70% importance is given to technical quality and 30% importance is given to price. In such a model, if a company’s technical score is slightly better and its price is very low, then it can easily get ahead in the final ranking. This is what happened with Compt.
Why did the controversy increase?
The OSM system, which came into discussion due to portal not opening, was fully implemented from this year. Board exams started from 17th February. Whereas the evaluation contract was given on 5 December. That means the new system was implemented just 74 days before the start of the board exams. Later, many technical problems and delays in the re-evaluation portal came to light.
For this reason, parents, students and teachers are constantly raising questions about whether adequate preparation was done to implement such a large system or not. Despite people’s allegations, there has been no official confirmation of any irregularities or corruption yet.
On this matter, CBSE says that the entire process was done as per the rules. The Education Ministry is currently conducting a detailed investigation of the tender and OSM system. If any procedural deficiency, negligence or irregularity is found in the investigation, then action can be taken against the officials.
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