From Jantar Mantar to Ramlila Maidan, thousands of SSC aspirants recently took to the streets demanding transparency in recruitment exams. But the protest has been able to achieve little.

Newslaundry visited Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar – the hub of SSC preparation – for a roundtable with aspirants to understand how the protests, controversies, and rivalries have derailed the real issue: students’ future.

Instead of students and teachers standing together, a rift has emerged. Social media is flooded with “video wars” between teachers, while students say their own studies are suffering. “Our exams are tomorrow, but instead of lectures, all we see online are teachers fighting,” says Harshit, an SSC aspirant from Mukherjee Nagar.

Bareilly resident Rahul Sharma, who has been living in Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar for two years to prepare for SSC exams, says the protests have made things worse. “Whenever we open YouTube to study, we end up seeing teachers’ controversies instead. They’re making nearly two-hour-long videos fighting each other, while even their lectures aren’t that long. Our issues have been sidelined. Teachers are chasing views and reels, and our studies are suffering badly.”

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