Over 12,000 teaching posts in KVs, 4,425 in IITs, 6,180 in central universities lying vacant: Govt

NEW DELHI: Over 12,000 teaching posts in Kendriya Vidyalayas, 4,425 in Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), and 6,180 in central universities are lying vacant, minister of state for education Subhas Sarkar told Lok Sabha today. The minister was replying to a Parliament question regarding the number of teaching and non-teaching posts vacant in KVs, Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs), and higher education institutions in the country.

According to the ministry data, 3,271 teaching posts in JNVs, 2,089 in National Institutes of Technology (NITs), 484 in Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), 353 in Indian Institutes of Science (IISc) and Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER), 61 in School of Planning and Architecture, and 314 in other institutes are currently lying vacant.

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When asked about the reason for the vacant posts, Sarkar said, “The vacancies arise due to retirement, resignation, promotion and additional requirements on account of up-gradation / sanctioning of new streams as well as enhancement of students’ strength.” He informed that efforts are being made to fill up the vacant posts.

Minister Kalanidhi Viraswamy also asked whether the Government is aware that Tamil Nadu is facing the maximum crunch of teachers in KVs where mostly admitted students are children of central government employees. To this, Sarkar replied that KVS informed that teachers were transferred on administrative ground for rationalization and redistribution of teachers for ensuring availability of adequate number of regular teachers in the schools. KVS has also started the process of filling up of vacancies of teaching and non-teaching posts for which advertisements have been issued, he added.

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When asked about the drop in performance of KVs in Class 10,12 board exams between 2019 and 2022 which shows effect of staff shortage in the schools, the MoS replied, “The pass percentages of KVs students in the X and XII board examinations conducted by CBSE are much better as compared to the results of CBSE affiliated schools.” The minister said that the past two years have been challenging due to COVID-19.

Subhas Sarkar further told Parliament that the steps to improve the performance of these schools include annual action plan, review of functioning by the education ministry, etc. “KVS has been actively making special efforts to address learning loss arising from the pandemic. Such learning recovery measures, depending on the requirements of the students include remedial measures taken to address the problem/difficult areas of each student, extra classes, assigning expert teachers for personalized attention, parental engagement, use of technology and specific instructional material and worksheet/workbooks to address the specific learning requirements of students,” he added.