Senior IAS officer Mandeep K. Bhandari, a 2001-batch officer of the AGMUT cadre, has been appointed as the new Chairperson of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). The appointment has been approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, according to an order issued by the Ministry of Personnel.
Bhandari is currently serving as the Principal Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir. He will succeed Lokhande Prashant Sitaram, who had been holding the additional charge of CBSE chairperson.
Sitaram was given the additional responsibility after the Centre transferred former CBSE chairperson Rahul Singh on June 2, amid controversy surrounding the board’s On-Screen Marking system.
In another senior-level appointment, Ankita Mishra Bundela, a 2001-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre, has been appointed as Additional Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education. She was previously serving as Additional Secretary in the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
The changes come at an important time for CBSE as the board oversees examinations, curriculum implementation and other academic processes for schools affiliated with it across India and abroad.
