They Topped The Exam, But Are Forced To Eat Grass & Soil, Fast For A Job: Inside Kerala PSC Protest

Last Updated:August 11, 2026, 4:06 pm IST

36 days of Kerala protest: Following an intense 13-day hunger strike by Association Secretary Valarmathi S, Kerala’s Education Minister met with the protesters on August 11

The protest against Kerala Public Service Commission (PSC) is led by the All Kerala Lower Primary School Teacher (LPST) Rank Holders’ Association.

Even as Delhi’s CJP-led Jantar Mantar and Jharkhand JPSC-JSSC protests make the news, Kerala, too, is witnessing an indefinite agitation led by qualified job aspirants outside the Kerala Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram over severe delays in government job appointments.

The protest against Kerala Public Service Commission (PSC) is led by the All Kerala Lower Primary School Teacher (LPST) Rank Holders’ Association. Following an intense 13-day hunger strike by Association Secretary Valarmathi S, Kerala’s Education Minister met with the protesters on August 11. The fast was temporarily called off after the government formally requested a 45-day window to comprehensively review these structural demands, though peaceful sit-ins outside the Secretariat will continue until concrete action is taken.

WHAT IS THE ISSUE?

Despite clearing the exams and being officially included in the May 2025 Kerala PSC rank list, hundreds of qualified candidates have not received their appointment orders. Protesters allege that positions are intentionally being left vacant or withheld. The protest has crossed 36 consecutive days of sit-ins and demonstration lines, with some members escalating the movement by launching indefinite hunger strikes.

To draw national attention and express their extreme desperation regarding financial hardship, candidates held a dramatic symbolic protest by eating grass and soil from paper plates outside the state capital’s Secretariat.

The protest intensifies at a time when the Kerala state government has separately assigned the Crime Branch to investigate alleged systemic irregularities and procedural lapses in specific Kerala PSC exams.

WHAT ARE THEIR DEMANDS?

The core objective of the protesting Lower Primary School Teacher (LPST) rank holders is the immediate issuance of government job appointments from the official Kerala Public Service Commission (PSC) rank list published in May 2025.

The All Kerala LPST Rank Holders’ Association has put forward a structured set of structural and procedural demands to resolve the crisis:

Candidates demand that the state government immediately stop withholding positions and issue formal advice/appointment letters to those already on the May 2025 rank list. In multiple districts, even the top-ranked candidates have not been placed.

Protesters want a strict system forcing schools and regional education departments to report any arising primary teacher vacancy to the PSC within 24 hours to prevent deliberate delays.

They are demanding an extension on the validity of the current rank list to ensure the government has enough time to absorb more qualified candidates rather than letting the list expire.

Protesters argue that the government should reduce the required ratio to 1 teacher for every 25 students (1:25). Lowering this threshold would legally mandate the creation of thousands of new teaching posts across public schools, opening up slots for rank holders.

They demand that headmasters/headteachers be completely freed from regular classroom teaching responsibilities, which would naturally create separate, vacant positions for full-time teachers.

Protesters are heavily demanding an end to the independent, direct recruitment of teachers by private aided school managements. They want all appointments and headmaster vacancies in these state-funded institutions to be processed strictly through the transparent Kerala PSC system.

THE POLITICAL RESPONSE

The agitation has rapidly snowballed into a major political confrontation in the state. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar, has formally written to Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan demanding an immediate dialogue to resolve the crisis. The opposition heavily criticises the incumbent government for neglecting the youth and threatens massive statewide rallies.

Youth wings like the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) and the Kerala Students Union (KSU) have marched to PSC offices in solidarity. Demonstrations have faced heavy police resistance, including the deployment of water cannons.

Protesters state that administration officials requested a two-month grace period to evaluate the recruitment structures, a timeline the aspirants have fiercely rejected as an stalling tactic.

About the Author

Manjiri Joshi

At the news desk for 20 years, the story of her life has revolved around finding pun, facts while reporting, on radio, heading a daily newspaper desk, teaching mass media students to now editing speci…Read More

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