Vacancies in Schools

By PIB Delhi

Education being a subject in the Concurrent List of the Constitution, the majority of schools in the country are under the administrative control of the respective State Governments and Union Territory Administrations. Accordingly, the recruitment, service conditions and deployment of teachers fall within the administrative domain of the concerned States/UTs. Teacher vacancies arise from time to time due to factors such as retirement, resignation, creation of new posts, rationalisation of teacher deployment and changes in enrolment, including in rural, tribal and aspirational districts. The data relating to sanctioned strength, working strength and vacancies of teachers in Government schools at the primary, upper primary, secondary and senior secondary levels, State-wise, is maintained by the respective State Governments and Union Territory Administrations. 

As per the UDISE+ 2025-26, the State/UT-wise details of teachers in position in Government schools across the country are placed at Annexure-I. 

Further, as per the UDISE+ 2025-26, the State/UT-wise details of single-teacher schools in the country are placed at Annexure-II. 

The Central Government periodically advises States/UTs to fill vacant posts through transparent and merit-based recruitment processes, including through autonomous teacher recruitment boards or similar mechanisms. The progress of recruitment is regularly reviewed through meetings and advisories, with emphasis on competitive selection, consistency and technology-based teacher requirement planning and forecasting.

Further, the Central Government provides financial assistance to States/UTs under Samagra  Shiksha to maintain appropriate Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR) at various levels of schooling in accordance with the norms prescribed under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009. 

Para 2.3 of the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 emphasises maintaining a PTR of under  30:1 in each school and under 25:1 in areas with a high proportion of socio-economically  disadvantaged students. As per UDISE+ 2025-26 report, the PTR at the national level stands  at 19 at Primary level, 17 at Upper Primary level, 15 at Secondary level, and 23 at the Higher  Secondary level which is within the norms envisaged under NEP 2020. 

Moreover, the Ministry of Education is implementing a National Mission to improve learning outcomes at the School Education level through an integrated teacher training programme called ‘National Initiative for School Heads’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement’  (NISHTHA). NISHTHA courses have been designed and are run for Elementary, Secondary,  Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN), Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE)  and Educational Technology and are offered online by NCERT on the DIKSHA platform using high-quality professionally made e-content.

This information was given by Minister of State for Education, Shri Jayant Chaudhary, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

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ANNEXURE-I

ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (A) TO (D) OF RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1165 ANSWERED ON 29/07/2026 ASKED BY HON’BLE MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT SHRI RANDEEP SINGH SURJEWALA REGARDING “VACANCIES IN SCHOOLS”.

In-position Teachers in Government Schools (2025-26)

State	Total Teacher in Govt Schools 2025-26
	Primary	Upper Primary	Secondary	Higher Secondary
ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISLANDS	877	799	893	2189
ANDHRA PRADESH	74616	7254	87545	31710
ARUNACHAL PRADESH	3001	6576	3123	3588
ASSAM	95731	40479	40954	39552
BIHAR	164481	242606	635	128339
CHANDIGARH	43	284	2270	2921
CHHATTISGARH	74645	53452	10282	47760
DADRA & NAGAR HAVELI AND DAMAN & DIU	546	1656	271	791
DELHI	18287	319	2343	62435
GOA	1997	321	999	488
GUJARAT	27386	153108	3747	10438
HARYANA	32256	10378	7120	51215
HIMACHAL PRADESH	19080	5243	7270	34674
JAMMU & KASHMIR	18748	38988	17578	16255
JHARKHAND	35945	45188	16322	18917
KARNATAKA	34830	95197	43325	20292
KERALA	16294	15626	6447	44234
LADAKH	734	2426	1054	1075
LAKSHADWEEP	179	192		358
MADHYA PRADESH	128006	122807	43375	105782
MAHARASHTRA	91352	108297	15092	8946
MANIPUR	6615	2944	3896	3515
MEGHALAYA	9964	7587	1054	1692
MIZORAM	5378	5560	2148	1153
NAGALAND	5791	5968	4231	2205
ODISHA	60916	78991	58487	14771
PUDUCHERRY	1513	551	1064	1831
PUNJAB	51471	8217	17558	45567
RAJASTHAN	63341	116481	966	260282
SIKKIM	2038	2220	2485	4190
TAMILNADU	56778	47102	29931	87640
TELANGANA	43867	14336	60283	37692
TRIPURA	4862	5840	5926	10253
UTTAR PRADESH	340103	259477	7025	20519
UTTARAKHAND	22738	7270	5810	23583
WEST BENGAL	239882	18261	27315	162655
INDIA	1754291	1532001	538824	1309507

(Source: UDISE+ 2025-26)

ANNEXURE-II

ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (A) TO (D) OF RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1165 ANSWERED ON 29/07/2026 ASKED BY HON’BLE MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT SHRI RANDEEP SINGH SURJEWALA REGARDING “VACANCIES IN SCHOOLS”.

Single Teacher Schools for all Management for 2025-26

State/UT	Single Teacher Schools for all Management for 2025-26
ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISLANDS	1
ANDHRA PRADESH	16357
ARUNACHAL PRADESH	473
ASSAM	3159
BIHAR	2006
CHHATTISGARH	2461
DELHI	7
GUJARAT	2335
HARYANA	1278
HIMACHAL PRADESH	3128
JAMMU & KASHMIR	1544
JHARKHAND	9827
KARNATAKA	8042
KERALA	67
LADAKH	28
MADHYA PRADESH	2269
MAHARASHTRA	9269
MANIPUR	446
MEGHALAYA	1124
MIZORAM	125
NAGALAND	35
ODISHA	1458
PUNJAB	1749
RAJASTHAN	7200
SIKKIM	31
TAMIL NADU	3957
TELANGANA	4793
TRIPURA	376
UTTAR PRADESH	7874
UTTARAKHAND	2655
WEST BENGAL	6769
INDIA	100843

(Source: UDISE+ 2025-26)