Mandeep K Bhandari is new CBSE chairman: Meet the IAS officer and MBBS gold medallist

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has a new chief at a time when one of its biggest examination reforms is still under scrutiny.

Mandeep K Bhandari, a 2001-batch AGMUT-cadre IAS officer, has been appointed the new Chairperson of 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 moves to CBSE after more than two decades in administration, much of it involving Jammu and Kashmir and central government assignments.FROM MEDICINE TO THE IAS

Before entering the civil services, Bhandari trained as a doctor.

He completed his MBBS with a gold medal from Dayanand Medical College, Ludhiana, before joining the IAS. His administrative career has included postings as Deputy Commissioner of Leh and Deputy Commissioner of Jammu, Divisional Commissioner Jammu and CEO of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board.

He has also handled Jammu and Kashmir's Health and Medical Education portfolio.

At the Centre, Bhandari served as Private Secretary to the Union Human Resource Development Minister from January to September 2018. He subsequently became Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Before his CBSE appointment, he was serving as Principal Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir and also held charge as CEO of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board.

Bhandari takes charge after CBSE's first full-scale rollout of On-Screen Marking, or OSM, for Class 12 answer-book evaluation in 2026.

Under the system, physical answer books were scanned and made available digitally to evaluators. CBSE had issued detailed preparation and mock-evaluation instructions ahead of the rollout.

But after results, students reported problems with scanned answer books, including blurred pages, missing pages and cases where students said they received another student's answer book. There were also technical problems with the payment and post-result services.

The controversy went beyond student complaints. The government constituted a committee headed by Capacity Building Commission chairperson S Radha Chauhan to examine procurement of services for CBSE's OSM system.

CBSE has defended the integrity of its evaluation process and said some allegations about improper scanning were factually incorrect.THE TASK AHEAD

Bhandari's appointment therefore comes as CBSE prepares for another academic and examination cycle.

The board has already issued its 2026-27 instructions for Class 10 and Class 12 candidate registration and continues to implement changes to examination processes.

For students, one of the immediate questions will be how CBSE handles the lessons from its first digital evaluation experiment while maintaining confidence in the board's examination system.- Ends