India, May 15 -- The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Friday issued a statement defending its newly introduced on-screen marking (OSM) system; and reaffirmed students' right to seek re-evaluation of their answer books. This came as anxiety and criticism mounted on social media following a sharp drop in Class 12 pass percentage this year, to 85.2, by 3.19 percentage points. That's the lowest in seven years.

The fall has disproportionately affected students in science subjects, with social media sites flooded with complaints particularly around marks in Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics.

Acknowledging the wave of posts on social media, the CBSE said on X that it had "observed" concerns being raised. It said the OSM...