Who Is Prashant Sitaram? Home Ministry Additional Secretary Holding Additional Charge Of CBSE Chairperson
CBSE Chairperson 2026: Prashant Sitaram holds the additional charge of CBSE Chairperson until the appointment of a regular official. He also serves as Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs and is an IAS officer. Know about his educational qualifications and previous positions here.
CBSE Chairperson Prashant Sitaram Background: The Central government has approved the appointment of Lokhande Prashant Sitaram as Additional Secretary, Department of Home, Ministry of Home Affairs, while entrusting him with the additional charge of Chairperson, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Ministry of Education, according to an official order issued by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.
Sitaram is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer and was given the additional charge of CBSE Chairperson last month following the transfer of the earlier Chairperson, Rahul Singh, to the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare amid the On-Screen Marking (OSM) controversy.
The official order, issued on July 2, 2026, states that Sitaram will continue to hold the additional charge of CBSE Chairperson until a regular incumbent is appointed or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
Who Is CBSE Chairperson Lokhande Prashant Sitaram?
Sitaram is a 2001 batch IAS officer of Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territories ( AGMUT) cadre. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.) degree in Mechanical Engineering from Pune University and a Postgraduate Diploma in Industrial Engineering from National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE) Mumbai. He has worked at several positions including Joint Secretary, Director, Deputy Secretary, Private Secretary, Counsellor, Deputy Commissioner, and Secretary. Sitaram has been honored with the State Award (Gold) for Meritorious Service twice, according to the Secretariat.
Following the OSM row, the government had also appointed Varun Bhardwaj as Secretary in CBSE. He was serving as Director in the Department of Higher Education. His appointment was made in place of Himanshu Gupta who was serving as the Secretary in CBSE.
The Class 12 OSM controversy began when students alleged that the newly introduced digital evaluation system led to lower-than-expected-marks. Ethical hacker Nisarga Adhikary allegedly exposed vulnerabilities in the OSM system by demonstrating that a plain text password was visible in the website’s source code.
Sahil Behl is an education journalist at Jagran with over a year of experience in journalism. Prior to joining Jagran, he worked as a Sub-Editor in NDTV's Education department, where he was responsible for writing and editing education-related content as well as managing the department's social media presence. At Jagran, he covers a wide range of education topics, including board examinations, school updates, admissions, and job notifications, while leveraging his editorial expertise and strong understanding of digital content strategy.
Sahil holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and has also completed an eight-month certification program in Data Science. Passionate about emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, he closely tracks their growing role in journalism and explores how they are transforming shaping the future of the media industry.
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