CBSE row: Arvind Sawant demands Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Arvind Sawant has demanded Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation over the CBSE mess, questioning PM Modi. He slammed the Centre for repeated paper leaks and called the transfer of CBSE officials pointless.

Sawant Demands Education Minister's Resignation

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Arvind Sawant has demanded the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, saying that there is "no point in transferring" the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Chairman, while questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allowing the Union Minister to continue heading the Education Ministry. This comes after the Centre on Tuesday transferred CBSE Chairman Rahul Singh and Secretary Himanshu Gupta, and constituted a one-member inquiry committee to examine issues related to the procurement of services for the board's On-Screen Marking (OSM) system.

Speaking to ANI on Tuesday, Sawant said, "You can't even conduct one exam properly. During their rule, 44 papers have been leaked. There's been a mess-up in CBSE too. What have you done? A transfer--what's the point of transfers? The biggest thing is that Dharmendra Pradhan is not resigning. Doesn't the Prime Minister have enough power to remove his own minister?." Amid the ongoing paper leaks controversy surrounding NEET-UG 2026, Sawant attacked the Centre, saying that the NTA "can't even conduct one exam properly". Meanwhile, CBSE continues to face mounting pressure following reports of technical failures in its post-result portal and OSM discrepancies in evaluated answer sheets.

Centre Forms Inquiry Committee

According to an official order, the inquiry committee will be headed by S Radha Chauhan, Chairperson of the Capacity Building Commission. The committee has been tasked with inquiring into matters relating to the procurement of services for the On-Screen Marking System by CBSE.

The Chairperson has been empowered to seek assistance from officers of other offices, as required for the inquiry. Secretarial assistance to the committee will be provided by the Capacity Building Commission. The committee has been directed to submit its report to the Department of Personnel and Training within one month.

Parliamentary Panel to Address Concerns

On Monday, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports Chairman Digvijaya Singh said the panel would consider concerns raised by students regarding the Central Board of Secondary Education's (CBSE) On-Screen Marking (OSM) system after hearing a presentation by class 12 student Sarthak Sidhant.

CBSE Responds on Re-evaluation Portal

Furthermore, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Tuesday said that its re-evaluation portal recorded over 28,000 successful submissions by 10 pm. The Board wrote, "Based on student feedback, further improvements--including extended session time limits--have been implemented to enhance user experience. Our teams remain on constant watch to ensure a secure, reliable, and student-friendly platform."(ANI)

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)