Thousands of applicants and teachers are protesting against the mismanagement in the ongoing Staff Selection Committee Commission (SSC) examination. On Thursday (31st July), the protestors gave a ‘Delhi Chalo’ call and gathered at Jantar Mantar seeking reforms in the examination, which receives lakhs of applications.
Thousands of students and educators gathered near the the Department of Personnel & Training (DOPT) office in New Delhi to meet to Minister of State for Personnel, Jitendra Singh to present their demands. However, the protestors alleged that the police used physical force to disperse them, even detaining many students and teachers for hours despite the protests being peaceful.
?Delhi | #Watch: SSC aspirants gathered at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi to protest against the alleged paper leak, demanding a fair investigation, exam transparency, and accountability from authorities in the recruitment process.#SSCMismanagement #Delhi #Protest #Viral pic.twitter.com/eR4WGt5Kae
— NDTV (@ndtv) August 1, 2025
Why are the applicants outraged?
Phase 13 of the SSC exam began on July 24 and was to be concluded on August 1st, 2025. The protests stemmed from the rampant complaints of poor management of the examination, involving technical and logistical issues. The applicants have stated that at many exam centres, servers crashed, systems were unresponsive, and the equipment malfunctioned.
In some cases, the exam centres were reportedly allotted as far as 500 km away from the candidates’ homes or misallocated. This was made worse by last-minute exam cancellations, leaving the applicants who reached at the faraway centres bearing travel expenses, distraught.
SSC Protest: Students और Teachers को पुलिस Detain कर कहां ले गई? Aditya Ranjan Sir | Neetu Ma'am@Akashword @mannubaghel9 pic.twitter.com/2c2LNWcTRm
— Khabargaon (@khabar_gaon) July 31, 2025
“Even if we manage to reach the centre after spending thousands, we are told the exam is cancelled. There’s no clarity on rescheduling. Our time, money, and most importantly, crucial years of preparation are being wasted. Who is answerable for that?” a protesting applicant reportedly said. Several applicants stated that when they raised concerns of mismanagement at the exam centres, they were manhandled or mistreated by staff and security personnel.
“Aspirants are being sent to far-flung centres, only to discover that the exam is cancelled. At some venues, cattle heads were kept on the ground floor while students were giving exams upstairs. Bouncers have been deployed to silence students who raise concerns. The mouse doesn’t work, and systems hang. This is what we’re facing,” a protesting teacher was told PTI.
Applicants told the media that there were rampant technical issues in the exams. Somewhere, the systems crashed, or the mouse stopped working. Some applicants were notified that their exam had been ‘cancelled’ just hours before, after reaching a faraway exam centre. Some said their exam was stopped midway, and nothing happened after complaining. Some applicants stated that the exams were delayed.
Applicants demand inquiry into mismanagement of the exam and immediate reforms
The teachers further claimed that during a meeting, the SSC director and officials admitted that they received 55,000 complaints related to the exam, which underscores the gravity of the problem. “If there are 3 lakh students and 55,000 have registered issues, that alone speaks volumes. SSC-CGL, with 30 lakh aspirants, is scheduled to start from August 13. How will SSC manage that with these broken systems?” the teacher reportedly said.
The protests found widespread support on social media with hashtags like #SSCVendorFailure, #SSCMisManagement, and #JusticeForAspirants trending on X. Many students shared their stories of lost opportunities, financial hardship, and emotional stress caused by these repeated administrative failures.
Several applicants and teachers have alleged that the police administration used physical force on them as they were protesting at Jantar Mantar and the CGO Complex. Several videos of a teacher being detained and taken away in police vehicles are doing the rounds on social media.
As per reports, the tender to organise the SSC examination was given to a company with a dubious track record. Applicants are demanding immediate government intervention and reform in the examination, on which lakhs of young aspirants coming from the lower middle class and middle class pin their hopes.
Tender for the SSC exam was given to a company, which was once blacklisted
This year, the tender to conduct the SSC examination was reportedly given to a Bengaluru-based firm called Eduquity Career Technologies. The firm was previously blacklisted by the Directorate General of Training (DGT). However, subsequently, it was given the tender for conducting the MP Patwari recruitment examination in 2023. The firm is said to have organised several national and state-level examinations. But the track record of the company has been marred by mismanagement and paper leaks. The company was accused of mishandling the MP Patwari examination, paper leaks in teacher eligibility tests, and subcontracting duties by taking commissions. It firm has faced multiple allegations of technical issues and paper leaks in several other examinations conducted for the National Testing Agency and the Common Entrance Test Cell, Maharashtra.
Students have alleged that the company was given the tender despite its poor track record to cut the examination cost. As per reports, Eduquity was given the tender as it quoted a rate of ₹220 per student compared to the rate of ₹350 per student quoted by the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). The authorities’ sole focus on lowering the cost of conducting these examinations has cost the applicants their time and future, apart from the added cost of holding a re-examination, the protesters lament.
