Mandeep K Bhandari: CBSE Appoints IAS Officer Mandeep K Bhandari as New Chairman
IAS officer Mandeep K Bhandari has been appointed CBSE chairman as the board faces scrutiny over its new digital evaluation system for Class 12 examinations.
Mandeep K Bhandari: IAS officer Mandeep K Bhandari has taken over as the new chairman of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). The government issued an order confirming his appointment.
The change comes at a time when CBSE is facing questions over the implementation of its On Screen Marking (OSM) system. The Centre had earlier removed CBSE chairman Rahul Singh and secretary Himanshu Gupta and ordered a probe into the procurement of services linked to the digital evaluation system.
Bhandari belongs to the 2001 batch of the Indian Administrative Service. He has worked in several administrative roles during his career, including assignments with the central government and in Jammu and Kashmir. He was also associated with the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board as its Chief Executive Officer.
An MBBS graduate, Bhandari now takes charge of the board that conducts examinations and oversees school education for CBSE-affiliated institutions across the country.
CBSE introduced the On Screen Marking system for Class 12 answer sheets in 2026. Instead of sending physical answer books to examiners, the papers are scanned and their digital copies are used for evaluation.
The board had made preparations before introducing the system. Teachers were given training and mock exercises were conducted to familiarise evaluators with the new process.
Problems were reported after the system went into use. Some students and parents raised concerns about the quality of scanned answer sheets and other issues related to evaluation. CBSE said it had checks in place and that answer books affected by poor scans could be rescanned.
In cases where scanning problems continued, the board said the answer sheets could be checked manually.
Bhandari’s appointment comes as CBSE deals with these examination-related issues and continues to work on its digital evaluation process. His tenure will begin with the board under close attention from students, parents and the education community.
