In a dramatic series of events today, the Central Government executed a major leadership overhaul at the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), replacing both its Chairman and Secretary.
The shakeup comes in the wake of escalating controversies surrounding a new digital marking system and a massive, coordinated cyberattack on the board’s re-evaluation portal.
Coinciding with peak student activity, the CBSE online re-evaluation portal was hit by a major cyberattack on Tuesday. The platform witnessed an unprecedented traffic spike, racking up nearly 15 lakh (1.5 million) hits in just two minutes. The sudden influx crippled access to crucial post-result services, including marks verification, re-evaluation requests, and answer sheet photocopy applications.
Technical teams quickly deployed safeguards to stabilize the platform. According to official cybersecurity updates, the portal rebounded to support over 8,000 concurrent users, with more than 16,000 students successfully completing their submissions by Tuesday afternoon. The CBSE has urged students and parents not to panic and to rely strictly on official communications for updates regarding deadlines and the re-evaluation process.
The digital disruption struck at an already tense moment for the board. CBSE has been engulfed in a widening controversy over its newly introduced, fully digital On-Screen Marking (OSM) system for Class 12 evaluation. The CBSE officially confirmed that no student records or personal information have been compromised, emphasizing there is no evidence of a data breach.
The initiative triggered intense backlash from students and parents who reported severe technical glitches, including, blurred answer-book scans and missing pages, instances where students were allegedly shown another candidate’s answer script, scanned copies that did not match the students’ actual handwriting and widespread online payment failures and delays.
In a swift response to the growing demands for accountability, the government transferred out CBSE Chairman Rahul Singh and Secretary Himanshu Gupta on Tuesday.
Hours after the ouster, the Centre announced its new leadership team to steer the board through the crisis:
| Position | Outgoing Official | Incoming Official |
| CBSE Chairperson | Rahul Singh (Shifted to Addl. Secretary, Dept. of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare) | Lokhande Prashant Sitaram |
| CBSE Secretary | Himanshu Gupta (Returned to parent cadre, Ministry of Home Affairs) | Varun Bharadwaj |
To address the root cause of the evaluation failure, the government has constituted a One-Member Committee to probe the procurement of services for the On-Screen Marking System. The investigation will be headed by S Radha Chauhan, Chairperson of the Capacity Building Commission.
Additionally, top experts from the IITs and IIMs have been roped in to help resolve the underlying technical glitches and restore system integrity.
