The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has announced the introduction of On-Screen Marking (OSM) for the Class 12 board examinations starting in 2026. This is an important step towards modernizing India’s examination and assessment framework, aligning the assessment process with the country’s rapidly evolving digital education ecosystem.
Shift from manual to digital assessment
Under the new system, students’ answer sheets will be scanned and checked digitally by examiners through secure online platforms. It replaces the traditional process of physically transporting answer scripts to assessment centers and checking them manually. A number of key benefits are expected from the transition, including:
- ✓Better accuracy in marking
- ✓Less chance of manual errors such as incorrect culling
- ✓Faster evaluation and processing of results
- ✓Greater transparency and accountability
By digitizing the assessment workflow, CBSE aims to make the marking process more efficient and reliable at scale.
Enhancing efficiency in India’s largest examination system
CBSE conducts board exams for millions of students every year, making it one of the largest school examination systems in the world. Managing and reviewing such a large volume of answer sheets involves significant logistical coordination.
On-screen marking helps address these challenges by:
- ✓Eliminating the need for physical transportation of answer sheets
- ✓Enabling examiners to review scripts digitally from designated locations
- ✓Provision of secure access and traceability within the assessment process
- ✓Supporting faster compilation and processing of results
This digital approach not only improves operational efficiency but also strengthens consistency in marking and quality control.
Reflecting the growing digital readiness among schools and educators
The move towards digital assessment reflects the growing adoption of technology in India’s school ecosystem. Over the past several years, many CBSE-affiliated schools have integrated digital classroom platforms, allowing teachers to manage lessons, assessments, and performance tracking through a streamlined digital environment.
Teachers familiar with digital tools are expected to more easily adapt to on-screen assessment workflows, making the transition smoother and more efficient.
Supporting the future of technology-enabled education
CBSE’s adoption of on-screen marking marks a broader shift towards technology-enabled teaching and assessment. As schools continue to invest in digital infrastructure, integrated classroom and assessment platforms are playing a critical role in preparing institutions to meet evolving educational needs.
Recognizing the need to reduce the burden on teachers and make the assessment process fairer, faster, and more robust, innovative solutions have been developed to address these challenges. These technology-enabled environments help create familiarity with digital workflows, facilitating easy adoption of initiatives such as on-screen marking.
Xtramarks: Pioneer of Digital Assessment Solutions
With a vision to transform the assessment landscape in Indian schools, Extramarks has developed comprehensive solutions that address key challenges faced by teachers and institutions. Understanding that assessment is not just about assessment but about improving learning outcomes, Extramarks has built a robust ecosystem that makes the assessment process better, faster, and more efficient while significantly reducing the burden on teachers.
Subjective response assessment: AI-powered assessment
XtraMarks’ Subjective Response Assessment System represents a breakthrough in educational assessment technology. This intelligent system goes beyond simple keyword matching to understand the depth and quality of student responses. The platform evaluates subjective responses based on several parameters including conceptual understanding, response structure, relevance to the question and completeness of the response.
The assessment process is designed to mirror the way experienced teachers assess responses, but with greater consistency and speed. Teachers can set up a marking scheme with flexible rubrics, and the system evaluates student responses accordingly. It not only ensures transparency in marking but also provides detailed feedback to students, helping them understand where they have scored well and where improvement is needed. This system significantly reduces the time teachers spend on assessment, allowing them to focus more on teaching and student interaction.
Reporting based on Bloom’s taxonomy: Understanding the depth of learning
One of the most innovative features of Extramarks’ assessment solution is its reporting system based on Bloom’s Taxonomy. Bloom’s taxonomy is a taxonomic framework that categorizes learning objectives into six levels: remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, and create. Each level represents a different depth of cognitive engagement, from basic memorization of facts to higher-order thinking skills.
The XtraMarks platform tags each question and assessment item according to these Bloom’s levels. When students complete the assessment, the system generates comprehensive reports that show not only overall scores but performance at different cognitive levels. This allows teachers and parents to understand whether a student is really strong in memorization but struggles with application, or excels in analysis but needs help understanding the underlying concept.
These insights are invaluable for personalized learning. Teachers can identify specific areas where individual students or whole classes need extra help. For example, if reports show that students consistently do well on “remember” and “understand” level questions but struggle with “apply” and “analyze” questions, teachers can adjust their teaching strategies to include more practical applications and problem-solving activities.
Comprehensive Digital Assessment Ecosystem
Extra Marks Smart Class PlusImplemented in multiple CBSE-affiliated schools, Digital provides an integrated platform for teaching, assessment, and performance tracking. The solution includes features like automated question paper generation, online test administration, instant grading for objective questions, intelligent assessment for subjective answers, and detailed analytics dashboards.
This holistic approach has helped schools transition smoothly to digital assessment methods. Teachers using these tools are already familiar with digital evaluation workflows, making them better prepared for large-scale initiatives like CBSE’s on-screen marking system. The platform’s emphasis on fairness, speed, and actionable insights is perfectly aligned with the goals of modern educational assessment.
A progressive step towards a more transparent and scalable evaluation system
The introduction of on-screen marking represents an initiative taken by CBSE to enhance the efficiency, transparency and scalability of the board’s examination process. As digital transformation continues to reshape India’s education landscape, technology-enabled assessment systems will play a critical role in ensuring an accurate, efficient, and future-ready assessment framework for millions of students across the country.