Staff vacancies continue to plague higher education

CatchNews 16 February 2018

The functioning of Indian institutions of higher learning continues to be crippled due to a large number of staff vacancies. The latest government data has shown that the scale of the problem is massive and the scope widespread, writes Charu Kartikeya for CatchNews.

The Human Resource Development Ministry has said that while there is a total sanctioned teaching strength of 17,106 in 40 central universities, 5,997 of these posts are lying vacant (35%). Further, posts of eight vice-chancellors in 41 central universities are also lying vacant. In these universities, the acting vice-chancellors are performing the duties of the vice-chancellor.

The information was given by the ministry in reply to a question asked in the Lok Sabha by Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia. The government said: “The onus to fill up the vacant teaching posts lies with the universities which are statutory autonomous bodies”. In its defence, the ministry has listed some steps that it and University Grants Commission have taken to address the problem. However, the first such step listed is a move undertaken in 2007: enhancing the age of superannuation for teachers in central educational institutions to 65.
Full report on the CatchNews site

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