Colleges in urban areas have more vacant teaching posts than rural

NEW DELHI, JULY 27: Bursting the myth of colleges located in rural and remote areas not being able to attract teaching talent, a data presented by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has revealed that only 20.1 percent seats are vacant in the rural areas as compared to 29.5 percent in colleges located in urban centres.

As per the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2016-17 report, out of the total sanctioned strength of 12.52 lakh posts in rural and urban colleges, about 3.6 lakh posts are vacant.

There are 1.37 lakh posts vacant against sanctioned positions of 6.8 lakh in colleges located in rural areas, while the vacancy in the urban areas is in the tune of 1.68 lakh posts out of 5.71 lakh sanctioned positions.

The Teaching Strength-Rural Vs Urban

*Source: AISHE 2016-17

HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar replying to a question on the comparative shortage of teachers in rural and urban areas, though replied that the colleges included under 2(f) and 12(B) of UGC Act, 1956 come under the administrative purview of respective State Governments, he asserted that the teaching strength in rural areas is much better than in urban areas.

He said that the Central Government is not involved in the recruitment of teachers and non-teaching staff of such colleges.

The UGC through its circular, issued in February, had asked the Vice Chancellors of all Central Universities to prepare a time-bound action plan to fill up the vacant positions.