Over 5,000 teaching vacancies, 2,000 unfilled reserved posts in central universities: Education ministry

NEW DELHI: As many as 5,182 teaching posts are vacant across central universities of India, Sukanta Majumadar, minister of state for education, told Lok Sabha on Monday. He also said that a total of over 2,750 reserved posts are vacant across these institutes.

The minister was replying to a question by Congress MP from Kerala’s Vatakara district Shafi Parambil and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MPs Selvaganapathi T M and Kalanidhi Veeraswamy from Tamil Nadu’s Salem and Chennai North, respectively.

Vacant reserved posts at central universities

Over 3,000 seats have been filled across reserved categories, including 1,048 positions belonging to the SC category and 512 to ST, and 1,734 to OBC, he added. “Through special recruitment drives, more than 7,650 teaching positions have been filled in central universities,” Majumdar said.

Teaching vacancies filled till October 2024

In July 2024, Careers360 had reported that 6,988 teaching and non-teaching posts were found vacant across central universities of India.

Backlog in teaching, non-teaching posts

Addressing Punjab Congress MP Amrinder Singh Raja’s enquiry on backlogs, Majumdar revealed that 3,332 pending vacancies were reported across 125 centrally funded higher educational institutions (CFHEIs) under the Department of Higher Education and seven autonomous bodies under Department of School Education till January 1, 2024.

Teaching and non-teaching vacancies

This staffing crisis follows a 2023 parliamentary committee directive to fill approximately 27,000 positions across central higher education institutions.