New Delhi, May 24: Amid growing concerns and criticism from students over the newly introduced digital evaluation process, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Sunday announced that students who were charged excess fees while applying for scanned copies of answer sheets during the Class 12 post-result process will receive refunds.
In an official notice issued on May 24, the board stated that technical glitches during the application process on May 21 and 22 resulted in incorrect fee deductions for some candidates seeking scanned copies of evaluated answer scripts.
According to the notice, some students were charged more than the prescribed amount, while others paid less due to the system errors. CBSE clarified that all excess payments will be refunded automatically to the original mode of payment used by the candidates.
The board also stated that students who were charged lesser amounts would be informed separately if any balance payment is required. Importantly, CBSE assured that scanned copies of evaluated answer sheets will still be provided to all affected students without the need to submit fresh applications.
The announcement comes after widespread outrage on social media, with several students — including JEE Main qualifiers — alleging unexpectedly low marks in theory papers of subjects such as Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Accountancy, and Economics.
Student complaints intensified after the re-evaluation and verification window opened. Many candidates who downloaded scanned answer sheets claimed they found unchecked answers, missing step-marking in lengthy numerical questions, blurred or unreadable scanned pages, discrepancies between page-wise marks and final totals, as well as repeated server crashes and payment failures on the re-evaluation portal.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education has reportedly stepped in to closely monitor the situation. Sources said the Ministry is providing administrative oversight to CBSE and reviewing the final outcomes of the Class 12 board examination process.
Senior officials are also tracking data generated during the ongoing verification and re-evaluation exercise to assess whether technical glitches may have contributed to the 3.19 per cent decline in this year’s overall Class 12 pass percentage, which dropped to 85.20 per cent — a multi-year low.
However, top officials have denied any large-scale systemic failure, maintaining that the viral complaints circulating online represent isolated incidents that gained amplified attention on social media.
