SSC exam irregularities reflect deeper cultural crisis: Acharya Prashant

New Delhi: Philosopher and author Acharya Prashant has expressed concerns about irregularities in the recent SSC exams, calling them “a symptom of cultural decay”.

The SSC (Staff Selection Commission) exam, held from July 24 to August 1, faced multiple issues such as sudden cancellations, server outages, unresponsive systems and exam centres located up to 500 km away from candidates’ homes.

"Such lapses are no longer isolated mishaps. They reflect a decaying culture that is weakening the youth’s inner fabric. These failures repeat every year: SSC, NEET, Railways, state services. This is no longer the exception. It has become the system," the founder of the PrashantAdvait Foundation said in a press release.

"Picture a student preparing for years in a small rented room,” he said. “On exam day, his admit card is faulty, his biometric fails, or he’s sent to a far-off centre. What happens to him then?”

The 47-year-old cautioned that these incidents could cause students to lose trust in "knowledge, honesty, and hard work", potentially leading them to become "fatalistic or turn to corruption".

"If years of effort are wasted, the student asks, is this nation fair? Will honesty help me, or cheap hacks and crookedness? His inner locus of control breaks. He starts believing that luck, contacts, and sycophancy matter more than sincerity. He thinks that if his effort brings nothing, it is better to exploit others. Better to beat the system than trust it,” he added.

He warned that such students lose the will to create or innovate. “They want only one thing, which is security, namely a stable job with a salary and pension. Fear drives them. And where fear rules, creativity dies, and the nation pays the price.”

Known for his work with young people, he has delivered talks at more than 100 institutions, including IITs, IIMs, AIIMS, IISc, and the University of California, Berkeley, according to the release.

He frequently discusses how students can maintain inner strength and clarity despite systemic failures such as the SSC exam issues, the release added.

"When sincere students are pushed aside and the cunning ones rise, the value system collapses,” he said. “They begin to think honesty is a loser’s virtue, and manipulation the only path to success.”

Emphasising that the problem goes beyond exam authorities and that the situation calls for much more than just "exam reforms", he said, “We need a cultural revival: one rooted in respect for hard work, knowledge, and honesty.”

"We must ask... if someone climbs up through deceit and trickery, is he worthy of respect? Are we ready to restore honour to knowledge, effort, and justice? Until we do, such failures will keep hollowing out our youth,” he said.