CBSE row: Rahul Gandhi interacts with Class 12 student Vedant, mocks ‘anti-national’ slur

New Delhi: Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Sunday continued his attack on the Union Education Ministry and the CBSE over Class 12 evaluation discrepancies by posting on social media a video featuring Vedant and other students who faced problems in seeking copies of their answer booklets.

“A revealing chat with my fellow ‘anti-national Soros agents.’ Vedant and his friends are brilliant, brave young Indians who asked CBSE and the Modi government simple questions – but got insults instead of answers. They deserve a bright and secure future. We will make sure they get it,” said Gandhi, referring to some social media users who branded students reporting issues with the CBSE’s system as anti-national.

Gandhi also took a close look at Vedant’s answer sheet. Earlier, he was mistakenly sent another candidate’s Physics answer-sheet. The CBSE later rectified its mistake and gave Vedant a copy of his original answer booklet.

Vedant had applied for a photocopy of his Physics answer sheet on May 19 after receiving what he believed were unexpectedly low marks.

Four days later, he posted on X that the sheet that the CBSE emailed him did not match his handwriting and was clearly of another student.

“I am a CBSE Class 12 student. After receiving unexpectedly low marks in Physics, we applied for photocopies of my answer sheets through the CBSE re-evaluation process. Today we received the copies. And I am shattered because the Physics answer sheet uploaded by CBSE is not mine,” he had shared in a social media post on May 23.

The post went viral, garnering over 3.5 million views and 48,000 likes, sparking outrage among students and parents.

The CBSE quickly announced that the matter was being handled on “top priority”, assigning a dedicated team to investigate.

On May 25, the CBSE emailed Vedant his correct Physics answer sheet and confirmed that his result would be revised after re-evaluation.

The Board reached out to Vedant’s family, assuring them that the error would be corrected and that his marks would be updated.

Since On-Screen Marking was introduced this year to digitise evaluation, where answer scripts are scanned and marked on-screen rather than manually, there have been complaints of lower marks than students’ performance in competitive exams like JEE.

Technical glitches were also reported on the website, including fluctuating fees for answer sheet photocopies.

The CBSE has admitted to glitches on its portal and taken corrective action with the help of experts from IIT Madras and IIT Kanpur. The problems related to the online payment gateway on the portal have been resolved with the help of public sector banks, including the State Bank of India.

The CBSE said on Friday that its Post-Result Activities portal will now be operational on June 1.​Once the portal is operational, Class 12 students will be able to file applications for verification and re-evaluation of answer books, an official said.​

Verification will include retotalling of marks at a fee of Rs 100, and rechecking will incur a fee of Rs 25 per question.​

IANS