NEW DELHI: The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), a digital rights advocacy organisation, has urged the Ministry of Education to direct the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to undertake an end-to-end review of its contract with Coempt EduTeck Pvt. Ltd.
The company allegedly provided the technical infrastructure for handling the Board's Onscreen Marking (OSM) platform, known as 'OnMark'.
In a letter addressed to both the Education Ministry and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the IFF raised concerns in light of growing complaints from CBSE students regarding exam evaluation via the OSM system.
The requested review targets procurement processes, security certifications, contractual obligations regarding secure development, vulnerability remediation, breach notifications, forensic cooperation, and termination conditions.
The IFF stated, “Pending the review, the CBSE should not extend or renew the said contract, and should place a moratorium on further onboarding of evaluators or expansion of the OSM platform to other subjects or boards.”
It further noted that because the OnMark platform is deployed across other examination boards, systemic defects could impact a wider set of public sector users.