Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi
New Delhi, Jun 4: Sarthak Sidhant, one of the three prominent whistleblowers who raised concerns over the CBSE's On-Screen Marking (OSM) evaluation system, has advised "Cockroach Janta Party" founder Abhijeet Dipke to ensure that any student-led movement is driven by a genuine cause rather than a quest for online popularity.
In an exclusive interview, the 17-year-old activist said he did not wish to enter politics but stressed that any campaign launched by students must be based on meaningful objectives and tangible action.
“Like I did some investigation, Nisarg did some investigation – we put it out to help students,” Sidhant said, drawing a distinction between activism backed by research and social media-driven trends. He also referred to fellow student activist Vedant Shrivastava during the discussion.
Sidhant, Vedant Shrivastava and ethical hacker Nisarga Adhikary emerged as leading voices questioning the CBSE’s OSM evaluation process after identifying discrepancies in Class 12 marksheets. Their findings contributed to a wider student backlash over examination-related controversies this year, including the now-cancelled NEET-UG 2026 examination, which is scheduled for a re-test on Jun 21 following a paper leak.
While acknowledging the role of online campaigns, Sidhant cautioned against limiting activism to social media platforms.
“Yes, internet activism is okay. What I did, what Nisarg did, what Vedant did was internet activism in general. But if people are simply sitting on their back seats and not doing anything or actively participating in any effort, that is a bad thing,” he said.
He further stated that he would not support any movement that exists solely to gain traction on the internet without pursuing real-world change.
Sidhant came into the spotlight after publishing his findings on his website, where he documented his examination of tender records related to the CBSE’s OSM system. According to him, he spent several days reviewing documents available on the Central Public Procurement portal after concerns were raised about the OSM process following a decline in CBSE pass percentages and reports of errors, mismatches and mark-related discrepancies.
In his blog titled 'How CBSE rewrote rules to favour Coempt EduTeck', Sidhant alleged that the board altered eligibility and technical requirements across three successive tender rounds in a manner that ultimately benefited Hyderabad-based Coempt EduTeck Private Limited, the company that secured the contract.
“This is a story of how a massive public institution deliberately played with students’ futures by rewriting its own rulebook,” Sidhant wrote in the opening of the blog.
Both CBSE and Coempt EduTeck have denied any wrongdoing.
On Tuesday, Sidhant was invited to appear before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports. According to sources familiar with his presentation, he informed the committee that CBSE had issued three separate tenders for the OSM system.
The first tender, floated in February 2025, was cancelled without a successful bidder. A second tender issued in May 2025 attracted four bids but was not awarded. The third tender, released in August 2025, received bids from Rankguru, TCS and Coempt EduTeck, with the contract eventually being awarded to Coempt after Rankguru failed to clear the technical evaluation stage.
The controversy surrounding the OSM system continues to attract attention from students, education experts and policymakers, with demands for greater transparency in the evaluation process.