New Delhi : What began as scattered complaints has escalated into a full-blown nationwide protest at various places this year. Thousands of aspirants and teachers took to the streets, mostly over alleged mismanagement and paper leaks. Protestors demanded urgent reforms and transparency in the examination system.
BPSC Protest
Bihar witnessed weeks of intense protests in December 2024 and January 2025 over alleged irregularities in the BPSC 70th Combined Competitive Examination (CCE). The exam was held on December 13, 2024. Soon after the exam, aspirants gathered at a Patna centre, alleging a paper leak. BPSC denied the claims and called them baseless rumors. Protesting students marched towards the Chief Minister’s residence.
Despite protests, BPSC ruled out cancelling the December 13 exam but conducted a re-test on January 4 for candidates from the Bapu Pariksha Parisar centre. The Supreme Court acknowledged concerns over frequent paper leaks and asked petitioners to approach the High Court which later directed BPSC to file counter affidavits. On January 23, BPSC announced the results, debarring 13 candidates for unfair practices.
In other news, assistant engineer aspirants protested against the government’s decision to give 25 per cent weightage to contractual work experience in recruitment exams. Protesters argued that the policy disadvantaged fresh candidates and demanded a re-evaluation to ensure merit-based selection.
In August 2025, job aspirants staged a protest demanding the State Teacher Eligibility Test (STET) be held before the Teachers Recruitment Exam (TRE-5).
West Bengal School Job Aspirants Demand Appointment
Hundreds of school job aspirants protested outside West Bengal’s education department headquarters, Bikash Bhavan, in January. They demanded early appointments after years of uncertainty caused by legal disputes. The candidates had cleared the State Level Selection Test (SLST) conducted in 2016. Over 23 lakh aspirants appeared for the exam conducted for 25,000 teaching posts. Although 25,753 appointment letters were initially issued, the Calcutta High Court invalidated the appointments in April last year.
Protesters said most of those affected had qualified on merit and should not suffer due to prolonged legal proceedings. Officials stated that no action could be taken until the Supreme Court delivers its verdict.
SSC Aspirants’ Protest
Thousands of Staff Selection Commission (SSC) aspirants protested across cities, including Delhi. They alleged severe mismanagement during the SSC CGL exam. Issues raised included server crashes, exam cancellations, biometric failures, and wrong exam centres. ‘#SSCMisManagement’ was trending for many days on platform ‘X’ (earlier known as Twitter). SSC had released the CGL tier 2 result on March 15, and candidates who took the exam were able to check their qualifying status. The protesters were demanding release of final answer keys.
According to participants, the Commission officials have admitted receiving over 55,000 complaints regarding the ongoing recruitment process. Several students also raised serious concerns over the vendor handling the recruitment process.
Nagaland protest
In April 2025, student groups and job aspirants in Nagaland staged protests against the state government’s decision to regularise 147 ad-hoc and contract assistant professors under the Directorate of Higher Education. All groups demanded the withdrawal of the April 21 regularisation order and called for recruitment through the Nagaland Public Service Commission to ensure merit-based selection.
Protesters criticised the move as unjust and warned of intensified agitation. The Nagaland government later announced the reversion of 33 teachers who were posted out of the eastern districts during the rationalisation exercise.
UKSSSC Paper Leak Protests
Job aspirants in Uttarakhand staged widespread protests after an alleged paper leak in the UKSSSC graduate-level recruitment exam. Candidates demanded cancellation of the exam and a CBI probe into the irregularities. Demonstrations were held in Dehradun and other towns, led by groups such as the Uttarakhand Berozgar Sangh, calling for transparent and fair recruitment.
