Parliament Question: Shortage of Teachers in Schools and Colleges

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 210 ANSWERED ON 04/08/2025 Shortage of Teachers in Schools and Colleges *210. Shri Harendra Singh Malik: Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state: (a) whether there is a shortage of teachers in schools and colleges across the Country, particularly in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh; (b) if so, the details thereof including the teacher-student ratio in schools and colleges during the last three years and the current year, year and State/UT-wise; (c) whether there is less representation of female teachers in the schools/colleges; (d) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor; and (e) the corrective steps taken/proposed to be taken by the Government in this regard? ANSWER MINISTER OF EDUCATION (SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN) (a) to (e): A statement is laid on the table of the House. ******STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 210 ANSWERED ON 04/08/2025 ASKED BY HON’BLE MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT SHRI HARENDRA SINGH MALIK REGRADING “SHORTAGE OF TEACHERS IN SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES”. (a) & (b): Recruitment of teachers in schools and colleges is a continuous process as vacancies keep arising due to factors like retirement, resignation and additional requirements on account of enhanced students’ strength/establishment of new schools or colleges. Education being a subject in the Concurrent List of the Constitution, an overwhelming majority of the schools in the country come under the administrative control of the concerned State Governments/Union Territory administrations. The details regarding the shortage of teachers in schools across the Country, including in the Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh, are maintained by the concerned State Government/Union Territory administration. However, as per UDISE+ 2023-24, the state-wise details of in-position teachers across all school managements and the state-wise details of teachers joined from the year 2020 to 2023 are given in Annexure-I at https://www.education.gov.in/parl_ques. Further, as per UDISE+ 2023-24, the Pupil-Teacher Ratio for the country across all types of school management is: - Primary Upper Primary Secondary Higher Secondary India 21 18 16 24 The overall Pupil-Teacher Ratio for the State of Uttar Pradesh across all types of school management is: - Primary Upper Primary Secondary Higher Secondary Uttar Pradesh 22 22 23 35 In the Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh, there are two vacancies of teachers in Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) and one vacancy of teacher in Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS) as of June, 2025. To protect the academic interests of the students, there is a provision for engaging teachers on short term basis in the schools of KVS and NVS, as per qualifications laid down in Recruitment Rules. The details of PTR in the central schools of KVS and NVS for the last four years, as reported by them, is as under: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR) Institution 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26 KVS 29 28 27 27 NVS 18 17 17 17So far as colleges are concerned, a majority of them are established by the State Governments/Trusts/Registered Societies/Private Entities, etc. and the data in respect of the vacancies of teachers in these colleges are maintained by the respective State/Union Territory Governments. The details regarding the overall Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR) in schools across all managements, as per the UDISE+ reports, and PTR for regular mode of study in University & Colleges as per the AISHE reports, of the last three years, State-wise, are given in Annexure-II and Annexure- III respectively at https://www.education.gov.in/parl_ques. (c) to (e): As per the UDISE+ 2023-24 report, the representation of female teachers in the country across all schools stood at 53.33%. As per the AISHE report, the representation of female teachers in Higher Education Institutions across the country stood at 43.40 % for the survey year 2021-22. As of June, 2025, the representation of female teachers in the central schools of KVS and NVS is 49.32% and 34.81% respectively. In order to increase the representation of female teachers in JNVs, a 10-year age relaxation has been granted to female candidates. Priority is also accorded to single women and spouse category employees during annual transfer drives. The progress regarding filling up of teacher vacancies through a gender-neutral competitive selection examination conducted by States/UTs through autonomous teacher recruitment boards, with due care for consistency and sanctity and after a technology based comprehensive teacher requirement planning and forecasting exercise, is periodically reviewed through regular meetings with States/UTs as well as through advisories. The Government through the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Samagra Shiksha, provides financial assistance to the States and UTs to maintain appropriate Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR) for various levels of schooling, as per norms prescribed in NEP, 2020 and the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, as amended from time to time. As on date, KVS has recruited 11,733 teachers while NVS has recruited 2,007 teachers in Mission Mode. The Central Higher Education Institutions (CHEIs) under the Ministry of Education are statutory autonomous organizations established under respective Central Acts of Parliament and governed by provisions of the Acts/ Statutes/ Ordinances/ Regulations made thereunder. As autonomous institutions, faculty recruitment is done within the institutions itself, in accordance with their Acts and Regulations. The recruitment powers vests with the respective Board of Governors (BoGs)/Executive Committee/Board of Management. The Ministry of Education had exhorted all the CHEIs to fill up the vacancies in Mission Mode. Up to 12.07.2025, a total number of 16,507 faculty positions have been filled up in Mission Mode by all CHEIs. *****