Why the marking tool stays switched off
A tool that suggests marks has been built and tested. It is not in the regular app. Here is what it does, why it is off, and what would have to be true before it is turned on.
6 October 2026 · 5 min read · Product information as of 6 October 2026
The situation
Marking is the part of a teacher’s week that most people would like to hand to software. It is repetitive, it piles up, and it has to be fair. Any teacher assistant is going to be asked, early, whether it can mark.
VIDYA Copilot’s answer today is no. Not “not yet, but here is a preview.” No.
What has been built
The supplied documentation describes a tool that checks a typed student answer against the points in a marking guide. It aims to show the student’s words that support each suggested mark. The teacher would make the final decision.
It has been built for testing. It is turned off in the regular app because it is not reliable enough yet.
Why off rather than “beta”
A reply to a teacher’s question that is wrong costs a teacher a few minutes of checking. A suggested mark that is wrong costs a child. The two features are held to different standards for that reason, and the product’s trust principles say so: care with student marks and private information is one of five things the company asks to be judged by.
Shipping the marking tool with a warning attached would also undercut the warning that already works. “Answered from memory, worth checking” is credible because the product does not attach it to things that should not be used at all.
The other half: handwritten papers
Most answer papers in Indian schools are handwritten. Tests of reading handwritten papers without internet were not good enough, so that capability is not available. The plan is to try again only when handwritten answers can be read reliably on the phone. Until then, even a reliable marking tool would apply only to typed answers.
What would have to be true
Reading the planned-features list, the bar is clear:
- The tool suggests marks and shows the words in the student’s typed answer that support each one.
- The teacher decides the final mark, every time.
- It meets a reliability standard before it enters the regular app, not after.
None of that has a release date, and the website does not invent one.
What to do in the meantime
Do not send student answer papers in a first enquiry. Any testing of marking tools needs a separate agreement and checks on how the papers will be used. If marking is the feature your school needs most, say so when you write, and plan around the features available now rather than the ones that are planned.
Takeaway
A product that keeps a tempting feature off until it is reliable is telling you something about how it treats the features it has turned on. The what’s next page keeps the three lists, available, built but off, and planned, in one place.
Facts in this article come from the supplied product documentation dated 6 October 2026. No customer quotes, adoption figures or results beyond the reported tests are claimed. Leadership views are presented as company perspective, not as direct quotations.
