Central Board of Secondary Education begins on-screen marking for Class XII answer scripts
Telegraph | 31 March 2026
The on-screen marking of CBSE Class XII answer scripts, introduced by the board this year, has started across schools.
The evaluation of answer scripts is being conducted mostly in computer labs, and every teacher has been assigned a desktop, a school principal said.
The introduction of on-screen marking for the evaluation of Class XII answer scripts beginning with the 2026 examinations is to “enhance efficiency and transparency”, the board had said earlier.
“Examiners have been provided login IDs and passwords, and the evaluation is being done in computer labs because each examiner needs a machine. The examiners assign marks from the drop-down for each question. It is a smart system that could minimise human error,” said Loveleen Saigal, the Birla High School principal.
The calculation and totalling are being done automatically by the software, so there is unlikely to be calculation errors, said Meena Kak, director of Lakshmipat Singhania Academy.
“We had on-screen marking during the pandemic also, but the system has improved a lot from there,” said Kak.
The system doesn’t allow a teacher to over-mark an answer, she said.
“Suppose a question is of 5 marks. The maximum that a teacher can give is 5 and not more because the system won’t allow that,” said Kak.Mock trials were held across schools before the final evaluation began.
In a circular in February, the CBSE said that on-screen marking would eliminate totalling errors, reduce manual intervention and enable faster evaluation with wider teacher participation.
“The on-screen marking is going on smoothly, without glitches. About 100 of our teachers will be engaged in Class XII correction,” said Jaidev Ghosh, the principal of South Point High School.
In the physical marking scheme, blank pages had to be crossed out, and it had to be manually checked whether all questions had been marked, Ghosh said.
“In this new way, human errors will be minimised and will save time. Even if a student answers the same question twice, only the best answer will be considered,” said Ghosh.
The evaluation of Class X answer scripts will continue in physical mode this year.
The CBSE has 46 lakh students in Classes X and XII.