The school service commission (SSC) has prohibited candidates from wearing “shoes or boots” during the selection tests for non-teaching staff scheduled on March 1 and 8.

“The candidates should only wear slippers or flat sandals,” the commission said in instructions printed on the admit cards.

An SSC official said the move was aimed at preventing candidates from sneaking in mobile phones or other electronic devices.

“Although each candidate will be frisked before entering the exam centres, we are exercising caution as over 16 lakh candidates will write the tests... If candidates come wearing only slippers or flat sandals, this reduces the possibility of using unfair means,” SSC chairperson Siddhartha Majumdar said.

More than 16 lakh candidates are expected to appear — on March 1 for Group C posts and on March 8 for Group D posts.

Majumdar said similar restrictions were not imposed during the assistant teacher recruitment tests held last September, which were taken by around 4.5 lakh candidates. He pointed out that competitive examinations such as the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET) enforce similar rules.

Guidelines for NEET, conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for admission to medical colleges across the country, allow only slippers or sandals with low heels.

An SSC official explained that the recent Madhyamik (Class X board) exams had influenced the decision.

“In the just-concluded Madhyamik, many candidates were caught smuggling mobile phones concealed in their shoes. Their exams had to be cancelled by the secondary education board,” the official said.

“We want to neutralise any scope for malpractice in exams involving such a huge number of candidates,” the official added.

Other standard instructions bar candidates from wearing watches or carrying log tables, calculators or
electronic gadgets into the exam centre.

Those found in possession of prohibited items will be summarily expelled.

Candidates have also been instructed to use a transparent black or blue ballpoint pen to fill in the OMR sheets.

The fresh recruitment tests follow the Supreme Court’s April 3, 2025 order terminating the employment of 17,209 teachers and 9,544 Group C and Group D staff, after the 2016 recruitment process conducted by the SSC was found to be “vitiated” and “tainted beyond redemption”.

The commission will conduct a State Level Selection Test (SLST) to fill 2,989 Group C (clerks) and 5,488 Group D (peons) posts at the secondary and higher secondary levels in government-aided schools. The vacancies arise from the mass terminations.

In September, the SSC conducted tests to shortlist candidates for 35,000 teaching
posts.