New Delhi

The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Friday (May 29, 2026) questioned how Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), one of India’s largest IT services companies, lost the Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) on-screen marking (OSM) contract to COEMPT Edutek, alleging that tender norms were diluted to favour the latter.

He also questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence on the OSM controversy.

“…Modi ji, your silence on the CBSE debacle and inaction against the Education Minister tells the country what you actually care about — not the futures of lakhs of students, only the survival of your own government,” Mr. Gandhi said in a post on X.

Sharing a media report, Mr. Gandhi claimed that CBSE had called for OSM tenders three times before awarding the contract to COEMPT. According to him, there were no bids in the first round and no qualified bidder in the second, following which technical requirements were progressively relaxed.

Mr Gandhi alleged that the scanning resolution requirement was reduced, the condition for robotic scanners removed, and the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) certification requirement lowered from Level 5 to Level 3. He further claimed that penalties for errors in answer-sheet scanning were also dropped.

“TCS, India’s biggest IT services company, qualified in the third round too. TCS lost. COEMPT — a company with a spectacular track record of failure — won,” he said.

Linking the tender process to complaints regarding the evaluation glitches, Mr. Gandhi said students had reported “badly scanned answer sheets, missing pages” and problems with the evaluation portal. 

He also claimed that teachers had warned CBSE that the OSM system required one to two more years of preparation before nationwide implementation.

Questioning the government’s explanation that “due process was followed”, Mr. Gandhi said the issue was whether the contract had been “honestly awarded to the best company”.

“The futures of 18.5 lakh children were handed to a company that could only qualify after the rules were bent for it,” he said.

The Opposition leader also responded to several Union Ministers, who claimed that Congress governments in Karnataka and Telangana used the services of COEMPT. 

“To the BJP Ministers attacking me for asking questions—I have, from day one, demanded an independent judicial probe. Expand it from CBSE to every contract awarded to COEMPT. Our youth deserve the truth,”Mr. Gandhi said.

A road safety rally resonating with slogans is a great way to raise awareness about the issue. And when conducted outside the school gates involving children, the effect can be arresting. DAV Public School in Velachery has done just that seeking to instil responsible road behaviour among citizens.

The school recently won the National Road Safety Education Excellence Awards 2025–26 in the gold category, instituted by the National Road Safety Mission for Schools, a nationwide, collaborative, non-government initiative led by Academia Axis Edtech, International Road Federation (IRF) India Chapter and Eduxa.ai.

Uma S, supervisory head, DAV Public School, says organising a road safety rally around the school was challenging as it involves getting permission from the police and taking a lot of precautionary measures, but people on the road take note as children steer these exercises.

Putting up a message board at the school struck a cord with many visiting the campus. Students made an imprint of the message and displayed it. Messages include insisting that the parent wear a helmet even when the journey covers a short distance.

“We spoke to students to find that many had posted a message calling attention to road safety measure their parents were not taking,” says Uma.

Since the school signed up for National Road Safety Mission for Schools in December 2025, they chalked out a series of activities spread across months. The Central Board of Secondary Education had also sent out a circular in January 2026 asking schools to drive programmes as part of Road Safety Month, giving greater impetus to the campaign.

Uma says when taking up such campaigns it is important to involve parents.

“We sent out a circular to parents across classes that the school has signed up for the programme and children are being trained to become road safety ambassadors. Such communication is important to engage parents, and we had children taking home one message a day,” she says.

Traffic rules, pedestrian safety, helmet awareness, seat belt usage, emergency precautions and responsible road behaviour were effectively disseminated through colourful posters, slogan writing competitions, chart presentations, speeches, mime shows, skits, and classroom discussions.

Other highlights include principal Sujatha M administering the Road Safety Oath. Through continuous awareness activities, the school hopes to instil the message on road safety hard.