In a significant development for Indian school education, Rahul Singh, 1996-batch IAS officer of the Bihar cadre, has been relieved from his position as CBSE Chairman following glitches in the Class 12 On-Screen Marking (OSM) system. Singh, who took over the CBSE in 2024, spearheaded the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCFSE), introducing several reforms aimed at modernizing and easing pressure on students.

During his tenure, Singh oversaw the rollout of mother tongue-based instruction for students from pre-primary to Class 5, in line with NEP recommendations. Schools were advised to use the mother tongue or a familiar regional language for early learning, emphasizing the cognitive benefits of home language comprehension. The introduction of the three-language policy was formalized in April 2026, making it compulsory for Class 6 onwards, with two of the three languages being native to India. The policy later extended to Class 9 students with internal assessment in place of board exams.

Singh also implemented the NEP-mandated option for two Class 10 board exams to reduce the high stakes nature of a single exam, giving students the choice to improve their scores in the second attempt. Despite these reforms, his tenure became contentious due to the untested OSM system for Class 12, which resulted in mis-marked answer sheets, access errors, and portal failures.

The controversies, compounded by the NEET paper leak and technical failures of the new digital evaluation system, eventually led to Singh being moved out of the CBSE, a year after he began implementing the NEP framework. Under his leadership, CBSE undertook unprecedented curriculum and structural changes to align with NEP objectives, leaving a lasting impact on school education in India.