Did 8,000 students in Odisha sit on airstrip to take their exams without desks and chairs? Fact Check
Claim : Around 8,000 students in Odisha sat on airstrips to take their exams without any desks and chairs.
Conclusion : The claim is true. The event occurred on December 16, 2025, three days before the post, at Jamadarpali airstrip in Sambalpur district, Odisha. Over 8,000 candidates competed for Home Guard positions and this has been confirmed by credible reports.
Rating : True 
Several social media users have shared a clip of students without desks and chairs taking an exam on an airstrip in Odisha. Verified X user ‘Benarasiyaa’ on December 19, 2025, shared a video from Odisha TV (OTV) depicting thousands of candidates seated in rows on an open runway, writing an exam. The caption states: “In Odisha, Airstrip doubles up as examination hall as more than 8000 aspirants turn up for more than 187 homeguard vaccancies.” View the post below –
In Odisha, Airstrip doubles up as examination hall as more than 8000 aspirants turn up for more than 187 homeguard vaccancies. pic.twitter.com/1XH78meDcN
— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) December 19, 2025
Other users have also shared similar claims which can be seen here, here and here
🚨 An airstrip in Odisha’s Sambalpur turns into an exam hall as 8,000 graduates appear for 187 government posts. pic.twitter.com/wLEhCNucdM
— Indian Tech & Infra (@IndianTechGuide) December 20, 2025
FACT CHECK
DigitEYE India decided to investigate this claim and found that it is true. The examination for 187 Home Guard positions occurred at Jamadarpali airstrip in Sambalpur district, Odisha. This has been confirmed by numerous media outlets and the video in the claim is real.
Details:
We first conducted a reverse image search of various keyframes from the footage shared in the claim. The search took us to the complete Youtube video uploaded by OTV (Odisha TV) on 17 December, 2025, which is titled : “Airstrip Turned Exam Centre as Over 11,000 Aspirants Appear for Home Guard Test” From the description we learnt that for “just 187 Home Guard posts, over 11,000 aspirants appeared for the examination.” View the video and the screenshot below –
(Courtesy: OTV)
Following this we conducted a web search with the phrase “Aspirants appear for home guard test on an airstrip” to learn more. Aerial footage of this incident has also been covered by WION News and The Lallantop which can be viewed here and here respectively.
Next, we tried to confirm the scale of participation, whether it was 11,000 students or 8,000 students that competed for 187 Home Guard posts. According to a report by NDTV, “more than 8,000 aspirants from across the Sambalpur district appeared for just 187 vacancies.” This report further states how “three additional superintendents of police, 24 inspectors, 86 sub-inspectors and assistant sub-inspectors, along with over 100 Home Guards and traffic personnel” were deployed to manage the crowd. View a section of the report below –
Another report published by The Indian Express also confirmed that 8,000 applicants competed for 187 Home Guard posts. This exam “conducted by the Sambalpur police for 24 police stations across the district on December 16, was held at the Jamadarpali Airstrip near the town.” The report quoted a senior police officer, who explained that, to address logistical challenges, “it was decided to conduct the written test on the runway of the airstrip.”
Thus, the claim is true.
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