New CBSE Chief: The Centre has appointed a senior bureaucrat and 2001-batch AGMUT-cadre IAS officer, Mandeep K Bhandari, as the new chairperson of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) under the Ministry of Education. He replaced interim chief Lokhande Prashant Sitaram, who was holding the additional charge of the post. His appointment follows the OSM row over the evaluation of the CBSE Class 12 answer sheets. Before this, Bhandari served as the Principal Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir. The appointment was among the senior-level appointments approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.
Who Is Mandeep K Bhandari?
Taking the position as the new CBSE Chief, Bhandari comes with more than two decades of extensive administrative and governance experience. As he navigates through the major institutional adjustments and academic preparations, Mandeep prepares himself to deal with several questions floating around CBSE’s digital evaluation system, answer-sheet access, cybersecurity, and the implementation of examination reforms.
Bhandari is a senior bureaucrat and a 2001-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer belonging to the AGMUT cadre. He has an MBBS degree from Dayanand Medical College & Hospital under Punjab University. Prior to becoming the CBSE Chief, he served as the Principal Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir. At the centre, he served as Private Secretary to the Union Human Resource Development Minister between January and September 2018. Subsequently, he served as the Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Furthermore, he was also the Additional CEO of the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board.
What Led To Appointment Of New CBSE Chief?
The appointment of the new CBSE Chief, Mandeep K. Bhandari, was prompted by severe administrative fallout following the Board’s recent OSM evaluation system. The introduction of the OSM triggered widespread row over the blurred answer sheet scans, missing pages, data mismatch errors, and payment gateway failures on the re-evaluation portal. These technical faults, coupled with administrative faults, led to a formal inquiry by the Centre. With the new CBSE Chief, the Centre aims to fix the ongoing issues of the CBSE and restore institutional and trust accountability in the board's digital examination systems.
What’s Next For CBSE’s New Chief?
As the CBSE is preparing for the 2026-27 exam cycle, Bhandari takes charge. The Board has already begun Class 10th and 12th administrative processes such as submission of the List of Candidates by schools.
As CBSE continues to implement the digital evaluation process, Bhandari oversees a thorough review of the ongoing inquiry into software procurement, fixes recurring portal glitches, and fortifies student data security against cyber vulnerabilities. Teachers and students will hope that appropriate steps will be taken to ensure smooth post-result activities.