Mandeep K Bhandari to take charge as CBSE chairperson amid OSM controversy
As part of the latest government reshuffle approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Mandeep K Bhandari has been appointed the new chairperson of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).
This announcement has been made days after the board faced controversy over its On-Screen Marking (OSM) system for evaluation of Class 12 answer papers. Bhandari, a 2001-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territories) cadre, is currently working as the Principal Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir.
According to an order issued by the Personnel Ministry, Bhandari has been appointed CBSE chairperson, temporarily upgrading the post to the rank and pay of Additional Secretary to the Government of India.
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Bureaucratic reshuffle
Against the backdrop of controversy surrounding CBSE's OSM system, Bhandari's appointment has been made. This digital marking system triggered protests after students started protesting over blurred and mismatched answer sheets.
After the OSM controversy, CBSE saw several changes in its leadership. Amid the controversy, senior IAS officer Lokhande Prashant Sitaram was announced as the CBSE chairperson on June 2, replacing the previous chairperson. He was then appointed Additional Secretary in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs on July 2, but he still continued to be the CBSE chairperson.
With Bhandari's appointment, the board has now got a full-time chairperson as the evaluation issue continues to be examined. The reshuffle also includes a change in the Department of Higher Education. IAS officer Ankita Mishra Bundela, who is currently Additional Secretary in the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, has been appointed as the Additional Secretary in the Department of Higher Education.
The Government of India has also ordered a one-member inquiry led by S Radha Chauhan, a former Union secretary, to examine the issues related to the OSM system after allegations of irregularities were made in the digital evaluation process of CBSE answer papers.