The year continues to be turbulent for Indian students. First came the NEET paper leak affecting 23 lakh aspiring doctors. Now, CBSE’s Class 12 board examinations are under scrutiny after the overall pass percentage dropped to 85.2 percent – the lowest since 2019.

A major reason behind the controversy has been the introduction of the On-Screen Marking (OSM) system, aimed at streamlining evaluation by digitising answer scripts and enabling examiners to assess scanned copies electronically.

Nisarga Adhikary, a Class 12 student and cybersecurity researcher who explored the OSM website after it launched, is blunt about what he found: “It’s really easy for a malicious actor to tamper with the marks.”

Adhikary says he discovered multiple vulnerabilities in the platform and informed both CBSE and CERT-In about the issues in February 2026 in an attempt to get them fixed. This year, nearly 9.8 million answer sheets were evaluated under the OSM system.

In this interview with Newslaundry, Adhikary talks about the vulnerabilities he claims to have found, his interactions with authorities, and what the controversy reveals about the rapid digitisation of India’s education infrastructure.

Watch the full interview.

We take no ads, bow to no government or corporation, and answer only to you, the reader. This Press Freedom Month, pay to keep news free.