Senior bureaucrat Mandeep Bhandari takes charge as new CBSE chairperson

Senior IAS officer Mandeep K Bhandari has been appointed the new Chairperson of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). The decision comes months after the board faced scrutiny over the rollout of its On-Screen Marking (OSM) system for evaluating Class 12 answer sheets.

The appointment was approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet on September 25. According to an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training, Bhandari, a 2001-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre, has been appointed as CBSE chairperson. He has been assigned the rank and pay of an Additional Secretary to the Government of India, with the post temporarily upgraded for the purpose.

Bhandari was serving as Principal Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir before his appointment to CBSE. His administrative career has included senior assignments in Jammu and Kashmir as well as positions with the Union government. He has also served as Joint Secretary in the Union Health Ministry.

Bhandari’s appointment comes after a period of leadership changes at the school education board. He replaced Lokhande Prashant Sitaram, making Bhandari the third person to head CBSE in less than four months. The leadership changes followed the controversy surrounding the board’s first full-scale implementation of the OSM system for Class 12 evaluation.

The new chairperson will also oversee the board’s ongoing examination-related processes and reforms, including preparations for upcoming Class 10 and Class 12 board examinations.

Bhandari’s appointment therefore marks another leadership transition for CBSE following a period of scrutiny over its examination technology. His tenure begins with the board continuing to deal with the operational and administrative challenges associated with expanding digital systems in one of India’s largest school examination bodies.