New Delhi, May 24 (IANS) Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday spoke with the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in view of the payment-related issues being faced by students during the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) post-result and re-evaluation process and both agreed to involve State Bank of India (SBI) and three other Public Sector Banks (PSBs) to weed out glitches.
During the discussion, it was decided that four PSBs — SBI, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank and Indian Bank — will assist the CBSE in strengthening its payment gateway infrastructure and necessary integration with the post examination services portal, an official statement said.
The banks will enable CBSE to put in place robust payment protocols to ensure timely payments, address payment glitches, and automatic refunds for excess payments, if any.
Pradhan also directed CBSE for a complete overhaul of their Payment Gateway System.
“It is envisaged that the coordinated effort with Ministry of Finance and PSBs would ensure seamless digital transactions, improved payment gateway stability and smooth experience for students availing CBSE re-evaluation and related services,” the statement said.
Earlier, the Union Education Minister decided to rope in professors and technical experts from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras and IIT Kanpur to help the CBSE ensure a glitch-free re-evaluation process.
Pradhan’s direction to involve IIT experts comes in the backdrop of concerns raised by students and parents regarding the CBSE post-result services portal which has allegedly crashed or remained inaccessible for filing applications for revaluation and seeking copies of answer-sheets.
The glitches have forced the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to repeatedly extend the deadline for filling revaluation applications and depositing fee.
Pradhan recently conceded hiccups in the new On-Screen Marking (OSM) system of the CBSE, saying that these were part of attempts to create a new system.
He said that creating a new system may face shortcomings, and only collective consultation and criticism can show the way forward.
–IANS
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