Bihar students clash with police in Patna over teachers recruitment exam format

Thousands of students, mostly aspirants for the Bihar Public Service Commission teachers recruitment examinations scheduled next month, clashed with police in Patna on August 25, 2026.

The protesters broke through barricades in an attempt to march to the Chief Minister's residence to demand a single-stage written examination instead of the current prelims and mains format. They hurled stones. Police responded with water cannons and lathi charge.

The confrontation occurred near Gandhi Maidan and other points in the city as security forces blocked routes to the residence. Visuals showed students facing the water jets while some continued to press forward.

The demand centres on simplifying the selection process for teacher posts. Aspirants argue that a single written exam would reduce the multi-stage burden and associated costs and delays.

Local authorities maintained that the protests had turned disorderly and that access to the Chief Minister's residence could not be permitted under the circumstances. No immediate official response on changing the exam format was reported.

Similar agitations over recruitment procedures have occurred in Bihar in recent years, often focusing on transparency, syllabus and the number of stages. The scale of Tuesday's gathering and the use of force marked one of the more visible confrontations this season.