According to the Ministry of Education, around 1.8 million students registered for the Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) Class 12 examinations this year. A week after the declaration of results, approximately four lakh students between May 19 and May 25 had obtained scanned copies of their answer books, which had undergone digital evaluation under the newly introduced On-Screen Marking (OSM) system.(Sign up for THEdge, The Hindu’s weekly education newsletter)During this process, several students reported server failures, portal glitches, blurred or incomplete scanned copies of answer books, and instances where responses they believed had been evaluated appeared to be unchecked. Under the CBSE’s post-result process, these students became eligible to apply for verification of issues observed in their answer books and for the re-evaluation of specific questions during the four-day application window, which opened on June 2 and closes on June 6.Despite the earlier fiasco and CBSE’s assurances of a glitch-free process, several students continue to report difficulties in accessing the portal and completing their re-evaluation applications. The issue comes at a crucial juncture for students aspiring to pursue engineering and medicine (two of the most sought-after streams after Class 12), with uncertainty over their final board marks coinciding with admission processes and preparations for upcoming re-examinations.Technical glitchesA student from Tripura, in northeastern India, claims that she has been attempting to apply for the re-evaluation of her Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics papers. She was among the 404,319 students, out of nearly 1.7 million who appeared for the examination, who obtained scanned copies of their answer books. Under the process prescribed by CBSE, obtaining scanned copies earlier makes a student eligible to apply for verification of issues observed in the answer books and for the re-evaluation of specific questions.According to a CBSE circular issued on June 2, the application window for these processes was open from June 2 to June 6. However, she says that persistent technical glitches on the portal prevented her from submitting her application. “Every time I try to log in, I receive an ‘invalid credentials’ message despite entering the correct details. “I reached out to the helpline and called the contact number provided for the Guwahati region. They asked me to wait, saying that they were working on the issue. My school teachers also told me that they had emailed CBSE regarding the problem,” she said.According to a CBSE press release issued on June 2, Aadhaar verification was introduced as a security measure for students applying for verification and re-evaluation. The Board further stated that students who do not possess an Aadhaar number may use the Aadhaar details of a parent, relative, or guardian for the verification process. “I have been trying to log in to the CBSE portal for re-evaluation, but it keeps showing ‘Verification Failed, Try Again’. When I checked my DigiLocker account, it showed that my account was unverified. I then tried to verify my Aadhaar, but the system displayed a message saying that the Aadhaar number was already registered,” another student said.Another student from Chhattisgarh said he was eventually able to complete his re-evaluation application, but only after facing technical issues for two days. He said that, apart from login failures and Aadhaar-related verification problems, the portal suffered from several usability issues. According to him, the system did not automatically save responses, meaning that if the website crashed while a student was entering details, all the information had to be entered again. He also claimed that the portal blocked copy-and-paste functions, preventing students from using pre-drafted responses and forcing them to retype their submissions. Further, he alleged that the website automatically logged users out after a short period, causing them to lose their progress and restart the application process.Engineering criteriaThe Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA), which conducts the common counselling process for admissions based on JEE (Advanced) scores to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), as well as admissions based on JEE (Main) scores to the National Institutes of Technology (NITs), the Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST), and the Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs), commenced on June 2 and is currently underway.For admission through JoSAA, students must either score at least 75% in Class 12 (65% for SC, ST, and PwD candidates) or be among the category-wise top 20 percentile of successful candidates in their board examination. While JEE Main and JEE Advanced results announced on April 20 and June 1 respectively, compared to the CBSE results on May 13, the Class 12 eligibility criteria of 75% marks (65% for SC, ST, and PwD candidates) or the category-wise top 20 percentile do not restrict students from appearing for the entrance examinations. However, these requirements become crucial at the stage of counselling and admission.Students currently applying for re-evaluation say they are caught in a state of uncertainty, as the final outcome of their applications is yet to be announced by the Board while the counselling process is already underway. They argue that even candidates who have secured high percentiles in JEE could be rendered ineligible if the concerns they raised regarding the On-Screen Marking (OSM) process remain unresolved or their revised marks are not available during the relevant counselling rounds, potentially affecting their seat allotment.According to JoSAA rules 2026, candidates whose revised Class 12 marks make them ineligible can have their allotted seats cancelled at any stage of the admission process. Conversely, students who become eligible after re-evaluation may be considered for seat allocation in subsequent counselling rounds, provided they had registered and filled their choices before the deadline and submitted their revised passing certificate to IIT Roorkee by July 15, 2026.One such student, Vaibhav, who secured a 99.09 percentile in JEE Main and an All India Rank of around 14,000, shared an email he sent to CBSE and counselling authorities. In the email, he wrote that “With counselling registrations and admission processes underway, students like me face the risk of losing admission opportunities despite having a genuine re-evaluation request pending,” he wrote. He urged the authorities to expedite the re-evaluation process and consider extending registration timelines for affected students or opening a special registration window after the declaration of CBSE re-evaluation results, arguing that deserving candidates should not lose opportunities due to delays beyond their control.NEETMeanwhile, the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG), originally held on May 3, is scheduled to be re-conducted on June 21 following allegations of a paper leak. The examination concerns over 2.2 million candidates seeking admission to medical courses across the country.A Class 12 student from the Delhi National Capital Region completed her CBSE examinations, conducted in offline mode between February and April 2026. As she looked ahead to higher education, she planned to pursue medical studies through NEET-UG. “I prepared for these exams for nearly 8 to 12 hours every day,” she said. During the NEET examination held on May 3, she claimed that the fan in her examination hall stopped working after the test began due to a power disruption, requiring candidates to continue writing under those conditions. Her examination took place during a period of intense summer heat. However, on May 12, nine days after taking the examination, she learned that NEET-UG would be re-conducted following allegations of a paper leak. The following day, CBSE declared the Class 12 results. She secured 78%, a score she said was lower than she had expected.After obtaining scanned copies of her answer scripts, she claimed to have noticed discrepancies. According to her, portions of her Physics answer sheet appeared blurry, while some responses in Biology and Chemistry that she believed were correct had not been awarded marks. She subsequently applied for verification and re-evaluation and said she expects her score to increase to around 84% if her objections are accepted.The process, however, has involved repeated follow-ups. She said she initially faced difficulties accessing her scanned answer scripts due to technical issues and has since spent time pursuing her re-evaluation request. With the re-conducted NEET-UG examination scheduled for June 21, she said she now has limited time to resume preparation. “I had already studied for nearly 12 hours a day before the first exam,” she said. “Now, after everything that has happened, I no longer have the same interest or motivation to continue.”(The author is an independent journalist based in Hyderabad covering politics, human rights, and environmental issues, primarily from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. He is now expanding his work to include education across all States.)