Centre appoints Mandeep K. Bhandari as CBSE chairperson

The Centre has appointed Mandeep K. Bhandari as chairperson of the Central Board of Secondary Education, replacing Lokhande Prashant Sitaram, who had been holding additional charge. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved the appointment on September 25, according to government appointment reporting. The CBSE oversees affiliated schools and conducts board examinations for Classes 10 and 12. Bhandari, a 2001-batch Indian Administrative Service officer from the AGMUT cadre, takes charge after the board’s digital evaluation system for Class 12 answer books came under scrutiny. The reports do not establish what steps he will take in response to that scrutiny. The appointment follows a period of changes in the board’s leadership. Sitaram had taken on the CBSE chairperson’s role in June while serving as an Additional Secretary in the Union Home Ministry, according to the reports. Bhandari now replaces him as the board’s chairperson. The scrutiny concerns CBSE’s onscreen marking system, which was used to evaluate Class 12 answer books.