The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) faced fresh scrutiny on Tuesday after technical problems disrupted the launch of its re-evaluation portal and the Centre simultaneously ordered a probe into the digital evaluation system used for Class 12 board exams. The developments came amid allegations of cyberattacks on the newly launched portal, complaints from students regarding answer sheet errors, and the transfer of CBSE Chairman Rahul Singh and Secretary Himanshu Gupta.

CBSE said its re-evaluation portal, which went live after multiple delays, was targeted by “malicious actors” attempting to disrupt services. According to the board, a major denial-of-service (DoS) attack generated nearly 1.5 million hits within two minutes. The board also recorded more than one lakh attempts at unauthorised file access.

In a post on X, CBSE stated, “The CBSE revaluation portal is currently supporting over 8,000 concurrent users. As of 3 PM today, more than 16,000 students have successfully completed their submissions. While thousands of students accessed the CBSE re-evaluation portal today, malicious actors attempted to disrupt services through a barrage of cyberattacks. Most recent being a denial of service attack attempt causing 1.5 million hits on the portal within a matter of 2 minutes and more than 1 lakh attempts of unauthorised file access.”

The board later said the portal had handled nearly 14,000 concurrent users and more than 28,000 successful submissions by 10 pm. Despite these numbers, many students reported difficulties in accessing services on the first day of operation.

The launch of the portal had already faced delays. It was initially scheduled to go live on May 29 but was postponed to June 1. It missed that deadline as well and finally became operational around 4.30 am on June 2. The portal allows students to seek verification and re-evaluation of their answer scripts. While CBSE manages the application process, the actual re-evaluation is conducted through Coempt’s OnMark platform, which was also used during the digital evaluation process.

Several students reported payment-related issues while applying for re-evaluation. Shikhar Singh, a student from a private school in Delhi, said, “I paid ₹175 for CBSE re-evaluation through UPI. The amount got deducted successfully, transaction completed, even ‘payment received by CBSE’ shown in the receipt, yet the portal showed payment failed.”

Students also complained about login failures and difficulties in accessing their accounts. Aashi Mishra, a student from Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, said, “I filled in all the required details to log in but the portal repeatedly shows ‘failed’ and does not proceed further. I faced this issue at least five times and then I tried in the evening and I was able to login.”

Another Class 12 student from a private school in Delhi, who requested anonymity, said the system repeatedly rejected correct details entered during the application process. “I entered all the correct details for applying; however, the website was not accepting them and was telling me the details are wrong. I have tried 10 times, but still, there was no progress. I will try again tomorrow,” the student said.

Some students were unable to apply for verification and re-evaluation because they had not yet received scanned copies of their answer books. Ananya Tripathi, a Class 12 student from Delhi, said, “I had applied for my Chemistry answer sheet on May 22 but I have yet to receive it. I have mailed the CBSE but did not get any response. It is frustrating.”

The portal will remain open from June 2 to June 6 until midnight. CBSE has clarified that no offline applications or requests submitted after the deadline will be accepted. Students seeking re-evaluation must log in using their roll number, date of birth and Aadhaar details. They are required to mention the question number, page number, marks awarded, marks expected and the reasons for requesting re-evaluation.

Students who applied for scanned copies of their answer sheets between May 19 and May 25 and have received them can submit question-wise objections until June 6. These objections will be examined by subject experts through the On-Screen Marking (OSM) system.

CBSE said it has made several improvements to the platform after receiving feedback from students. The board stated that session time limits have been extended to improve user experience. It added, “Our teams remain vigilant and responsive to ensure our dearest students are facilitated in all ways possible.”

The board also introduced Aadhaar verification as part of the login process. According to a circular issued on Tuesday, students without Aadhaar can use the Aadhaar details of their parents, relatives or guardians. “For children who do not have Aadhaar, the parent’s, relatives or guardian’s Aadhaar details may be used. In this case, the Aadhaar name, date of birth and gender must be of the person whose Aadhaar number is used,” the circular stated.

CBSE did not respond to questions regarding how Aadhaar verification would strengthen portal security.

The controversy surrounding the re-evaluation portal comes at a time when the board is already facing criticism over the functioning of its digital evaluation system. Earlier this week, official sources confirmed that security vulnerabilities highlighted by 19-year-old ethical hacker Nisarga Adhikary had been verified.

On May 31, Adhikary posted on X alleging vulnerabilities in the OSM portal and shared an image suggesting that he could access scanned answer sheets. According to official sources, the issue was examined and CBSE acknowledged the presence of vulnerabilities in the system.

“The vendor had a security audit certificate, and the Board didn’t do an audit of the vendor’s systems,” official sources said.

Following the controversy, the Centre announced significant administrative changes in CBSE. Rahul Singh was transferred from the post of CBSE Chairman and appointed Additional Secretary in the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare. Himanshu Gupta, CBSE Secretary, was sent back to his parent cadre in the Ministry of Home Affairs on administrative grounds.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet stated that Gupta had been granted “extended cooling off”. “He will be eligible for another Central deputation after 12.12.2030,” the order said.

Lokhande Prashant Sitaram, a 2001-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre and former Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, has been appointed as the new CBSE Chairman. Varun Bhardwaj, a 2008-batch Indian Information Service officer who was serving as Director in the Department of Higher Education, has been appointed the new CBSE Secretary.

The government has also constituted a one-member committee to investigate the procurement process related to the OSM system. The committee will be headed by S Radha Chauhan, Chairperson of the Capacity Building Commission, and has been directed to submit its report to the Department of Personnel and Training within one month.

Official records show that Himanshu Gupta headed the committee that recommended awarding the digital evaluation work order to Hyderabad-based Coempt Eduteck Pvt Ltd. CBSE had engaged the company for implementing the OSM system used in the Class 12 evaluation process.

Questions have also been raised about the company's past performance. In 2019, when the firm was known as Globarena Technologies Private Limited, it was linked to a similar evaluation-related controversy involving state board examinations in Telangana.

This year marked the first time CBSE fully adopted a digital evaluation system for Class 12 board examinations. However, the process soon came under criticism after students reported blurred answer sheets, missing pages and instances where answer books belonging to other students appeared in their records.

CBSE has acknowledged around 20 cases of answer-sheet mix-ups following the declaration of results. Amid mounting concerns, the board has urged students to continue using the re-evaluation portal and assured them that efforts are being made to address both technical and security-related issues while ensuring a smooth review process.