New Delhi, [Current Date] — The Union Ministry of Education has placed Mandeep K Bhandari at the helm of the Central Board of Secondary Education, a move aimed at stabilizing the regulator after a turbulent quarter. Bhandari replaces Lokhande Prashant Sitaram, who had been holding the position on additional charge. This marks the third change in CBSE leadership in just four months, a chaotic turnover triggered by the board’s ill-fated attempt to digitize evaluation.
The appointment follows the fallout from the On-Screen Marking (OSM) system, which CBSE introduced for Class 12 answer sheets earlier this year. The rollout was a disaster. Students and parents flooded social media with complaints about blurred scans, missing pages, and technical glitches on the verification portals. The public outcry was so intense that the previous permanent chairperson was transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture, and an official inquiry was launched into the digital evaluation process.
Bhandari is not a stranger to high-stakes administration. A 2001-batch AGMUT officer, he brings over two decades of bureaucratic experience to the role. Before his J&K posting, he served as CEO of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board and held key portfolios in health and medical education. His background is unusual for the role; he is a gold medalist MBBS graduate from Dayanand Medical College, Ludhiana, a detail that underscores his technical and administrative versatility.
The stakes for Bhandari are high. He inherits a board that has lost significant credibility among educators, parents, and students. His primary mandate is to repair the damage caused by the OSM fiasco and ensure the upcoming examination cycles run without technical hiccups. The Ministry of Education is watching closely, aware that any further slip-ups could reignite the political and social friction that plagued the board in early 2026.
Bhandari is expected to finalize the protocol for the next major examination cycle within weeks. The board has promised a smoother verification process, with offline backups ready in case of digital failures. For lakhs of Class 10 and 12 students preparing for their board exams, the change in leadership is a small relief, though trust is a currency that takes time to rebuild.