Over half of NCERT posts lie vacant, zero hiring for two straight years; NCTE, NIOS no different

A crippling staff shortage has left over half the sanctioned positions in the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) unfilled with the premier educational research body conducting zero recruitment for two consecutive years, shows data shared in parliament on Wednesday.

The vacancies are across various levels, but most acute with the non-academic (Group C) staff. The data submitted in parliament also shows that the body has largely relied on contractual staff for the past five years.

Even at the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), the regulatory body for teacher training, and the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), permanent recruitment has been negligible.

NCERT: Over 50% vacancy

The data regarding the vacancies was shared in parliament in response to a question raised by All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) MP from West Bengal Samirul Islam.

Minister of state for education Jayant Chaudhary said, “Recruitment is a continuous process and efforts are made to fill up the vacancies as per the provisions of the relevant recruitment rules.”

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Of 2,844 sanctioned posts at NCERT and its constituent bodies, 1,219 are filled, leaving 1,625 positions vacant – a staggering 57%. The constituent bodies of NCERT include RIE (Regional Institute of Education), Pandit Sunderlal Sharma Central Institute of Vocational Education, in Bhopal, Central Institute of Teacher Education (CIET) and others.

NCERT Vacancies: Group A, B and C

In 2020-21 and 2021-22, the body did not conduct any recruitment at all. The NCERT has increasingly turned to contractual appointments to bridge the gap. In 2022-23, the body had 760 contractual staff; in 2024-25 there were around 655. Earlier, the parliamentary standing committee of education has stressed the need to end the system of contractual hiring.

The data shared also highlights slow hiring. In the last five years, NCERT has hired 229 academic staff and 216 non-academic staff. In 2022-23 it hired just one non-academic staff.

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NCTE, NIOS vacancies

In another question raised by MP Javel Ali in the Rajya Sabha on vacancies in the autonomous bodies under department of school education, show that large vacancies exist among the administrative and non-academic staff.

At NCTE, the teachers education regulator, there are 60 non-academic staff vacancies. At NIOS, the number stands at 97 for administrative staff and 89 in the department of school education.

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Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has 257 administrative and 138 non-teaching vacancies.

As reported earlier at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) there are 4,269 teaching, 1,829 non-teaching and 35 administrative staff vacancies. While at Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV) it stands at 8,457 teaching and 1716 non-teaching staff vacancies.