The examination, conducted on July 19 for recruitment to 510 Field Worker posts, has already drawn criticism over low attendance and complaints about examination centres being allotted too far away, with many candidates also alleging delayed email intimation regarding admit cards.

The candidates also pointed to what they said were questions from subjects and languages unrelated to the Santhali language syllabus. For instance, one question asked candidates for the Sanskrit translation of “Mahua”, while another asked about the origin of the word “Hindi”. Candidates argued that such questions had no place in a Santhali language paper prescribed at the Class 10 level.

Harish Marandi, a student from Bokaro and the secretary of the Jharkhand Santhal Student Union, alleged that almost 40 percent of the questions in the Santhali language paper were outside the syllabus. He said that although the recruitment notification had mentioned a Matric-level syllabus, several questions were similar to the standard of the UPSC Civil Services Examination and the UGC-NET. “Four questions contained errors either in the question itself or in the answer options. We had submitted memoranda to the state government seeking a re-examination,” said Marandi.

Another candidate, Gopal Hansda from Giridih, who was among those who met JSSC officials after the examination, alleged that many questions asked about the biographies and works of writers whose names do not feature in the Matric-level syllabus. “Our objection is not to the answer key but to the questions themselves. We knew the moment we saw the paper that several questions were beyond the prescribed syllabus,” he said, adding that JSSC officials asked candidates to wait for the answer key and file formal objections.

“Questions were not even at the level of the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC)… they have reached the UPSC level. If they have to give random questions in the exam, then why did they mention a Matric-level syllabus in the notification?” asked Hansda.

Kishore Murmu, a candidate from Dhanbad, said candidates had prepared according to the syllabus notified by JSSC, but many expected topics from Santhali language and literature were missing. “There are a total of 33 tribal communities in Jharkhand. They have their languages and they have not faced any issue in any question. However, the Santhali language paper was extremely tough,” he alleged, adding that this would disadvantage Santhal candidates.

Talking to The Indian Express, JSSC Secretary Sudhir Gupta said students need not worry as the authority would address the issue once the answer key is issued. “Candidates may lodge complaints with evidence after the first answer key is published by the JSSC. There is no need to worry… all objections will be verified and addressed,” said Gupta.