Mandeep K Bhandari Appointed as New CBSE Chairman

Guwahati: A Senior IAS officer Mandeep K Bhandari has been appointed chairman of the Central Board of Secondary Education ,as part of a bureaucratic reshuffle by the Centre. A 2001-batch Indian Administrative Service officer, Bhandari is currently serving as Principal Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir. His appointment as CBSE chairman was approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, according to an order issued by the Ministry of Personnel.

Bhandari’s appointment comes months after the CBSE faced criticism over alleged irregularities surrounding the rollout of its On-Screen Marking system, used for evaluating Class 12 answer scripts.

The board had ordered an investigation into the procurement of services for the OSM platform happened after concerns over glitches reported in the digital evaluation system. The issue also raised questions about the board’s functioning and management of the examination process.

In an earlier administrative reshuffle on 2^nd June , then CBSE chairman Rahul Singh and secretary Himanshu Gupta were transferred from their posts. Prashant Lokhande was subsequently appointed chairman.

Bhandari will take charge of the board amid continued scrutiny of its examination and evaluation systems.

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