Mandeep K Bhandari Appointed New CBSE Chairman: Meet the IAS Officer
Mandeep K Bhandari, a 2001-batch AGMUT IAS officer and MBBS gold medallist, has been appointed CBSE chairman amid scrutiny over the board's digital evaluation reforms.
Mandeep K Bhandari, a 2001-batch AGMUT-cadre IAS officer, has been appointed the new chairperson of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved his appointment on September 25, with the post temporarily upgraded to the rank and pay of an Additional Secretary.
Bhandari joins CBSE after more than two decades in administration, including senior assignments in Jammu and Kashmir and at the Centre. Before entering the civil services, he completed an MBBS and was a gold medallist at Dayanand Medical College, Ludhiana. His previous roles include Deputy Commissioner of Leh and Jammu, Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Joint Secretary in the Union Health Ministry and Principal Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir.
His appointment comes months after controversy surrounding CBSE's first full-scale On-Screen Marking system for Class 12 answer sheets. Students had raised complaints involving blurred or missing scanned pages, access issues and technical glitches. The Centre also ordered an inquiry into procurement of services related to the digital evaluation system.
Bhandari replaces Lokhande Prashant Sitaram, who had been handling the chairperson's additional charge after Rahul Singh was transferred in June.
For the new CBSE chief, the next academic cycle comes with a rather important assignment: keeping examination reforms digital without letting the technology become the headline.
