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More than 50% sanctioned NCERT posts vacant: Data
The vacancies have resulted in a situation that academicians say has led to prolonged dependence on contractual staff and affected curriculum planning and textbook development and production.
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The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has been functioning with more than half of its sanctioned posts lying vacant, according to official data, resulting in a situation that academicians say has led to prolonged dependence on contractual staff and affected curriculum planning and textbook development and production.
Against the sanctioned strength of 2,844 posts, only 1,219 were filed, leaving 1,625 posts vacant –– a vacancy rate of 57.1%, according to the data shared on December 17, 2025, by Union minister of state (MoS) education Jayant Chaudhary to Rajya Sabha in response to queries from Trinamool Congress MP Samirul Islam.
The bulk of vacancies were in the Group C category. Of the 1,520 sanctioned Group C posts, only 411 were filled, leaving 1,109 vacancies — a vacancy rate of nearly 73%. In Group B, 369 of the 677 sanctioned posts were occupied, resulting in 308 vacancies, or about 45% unfilled. In Group A, 439 of 647 posts were filled, leaving 208 vacancies — roughly 32% vacant.
On December 27, NCERT advertised recruitment for 173 non-academic posts, including nine Group A posts, 26 Group B posts and 138 Group C vacancies. HT has seen the copy of the advertisement.
The data shared by Chaudhary in the Rajya Sabha also shows that in the last five years between 2020-21 and 2024-25, NCERT hired 445 permanent staff (including 229 academic and 216 non-academic) and 3,567 contractual staff –– nearly eight times higher than permanent hiring. Notably, there was no permanent recruitment in 2020-21 and 2021-22, even as 720 and 746 contractual staff were hired in those respective years.
In its March 2023 report, the Parliament panel on education, women, children, youth and sports had asked NCERT to “complete the process of filling up the vacancies with permanent posts” by the end of 2023. In its March 2025 report, the panel directed the NCERT to fill up all vacancies by the end of 2025 and recommended that it “stop contractual appointments”.
NCERT officials did not respond to HT’s queries for a comment.
“The recruitment is a continuous process and efforts are made to fill up the vacancies as per the provisions of the relevant recruitment rules,” Chaudhary had said in his response.
The staffing shortfall has come into sharper focus as NCERT faces scrutiny over its now-withdrawn Class 8 social science textbook that included a section on “corruption in the judiciary”. NCERT officials had earlier told HT that the controversial chapter was written by a committee of members, which included a lawyer, but was not reviewed by anyone from the legal fraternity.
Group A, B and C officers at NCERT are responsible for various administrative and clerical tasks including supervising the printing, publication, and circulation of the textbook in schools and among students. They are also responsible for coordinating various committees and experts including contributors who write, edit and review the textbooks.
Anita Rampal, former dean of the faculty of education at Delhi University, said that prolonged vacancies and reliance on contractual staff weaken any academic institution. “When people lack job security, their motivation, institutional commitment and academic freedom suffer,” she said. “Insecure and vulnerable temporary positions make it difficult to question significant decisions or contribute meaningfully to institution-building.”
Rampal, who earlier served as chairperson of the NCERT textbook development committee for the primary stage, highlighted delays in textbook publishing and release. “The Class 8 social science Part 2 book was meant for the 2025-26 academic session and should have been available by October or November. Releasing it at the end of February 2026, just before the annual examinations — and then withdrawing it — not only reflects serious inefficiency but also callousness towards children, while it raises serious questions about the reliability of the textbook production and review process, as is being presently witnessed,” she added.
In a written reply to a separate Parliament question on vacancies across autonomous bodies under the Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL), the government told the Rajya Sabha on December 17 that 899 administrative posts, 232 teaching posts and 404 non-teaching posts were vacant at NCERT.
On January 31, the council invited online applications via a recruitment advertisement to fill 117 various academic positions.
The development comes at a time when NCERT is rolling out new textbooks aligned with the National Curriculum Framework in School Education (NCF-SE) 2023 and the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, while also managing revisions, translations and digital content development.
“A high vacancy rate particularly in academic and technical support positions can affect curriculum development timelines, textbook review processes, research output, teacher training programmes and coordination across its regional institutes,” said Navneet Sharma, a faculty in department of education at Central University of Himachal Pradesh (CUHP), Dharamshala.
