CBSE Leadership Overhaul

On 2nd June 2026, the Central government appointed senior IAS officer Lokhande Prashant Sitaram as the new CBSE Chairperson and Varun Bhardwaj as the board's new Secretary, amid mounting controversy over CBSE's On-Screen Marking (OSM) system.

Lokhande Prashant Sitaram, a 2001-batch AGMUT cadre IAS officer, currently serving as Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, will take charge as CBSE Chairperson in the rank of Additional Secretary.
Varun Bhardwaj, a 2008-batch Indian Information Service officer and Director in the Department of Higher Education, has been appointed as the new Secretary of CBSE.
The appointments came hours after the Centre ordered a high-level inquiry into the procurement and implementation of the OSM system.