4.9K posts vacant in govt colleges across Haryana: RTI
To address shortage, colleges have engaged 1,971 extension lecturers and 45 guest lecturers
According to information obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 4902 teaching posts are lying vacant across government colleges in Haryana.
The RTI reply reveals that out of 8,137 sanctioned teaching posts across 185 government colleges in the state, only 3,235 are filled, leaving 4,902 posts vacant. To address the acute shortage of regular faculty, colleges have engaged 1,971 extension lecturers and 45 guest lecturers.
The information was sought by Subhash, state convenor of the Haryana Soochna Adhikar Manch, who had filed an RTI application with the State Public Information Officer of the Higher Education Department, seeking details on the number of government colleges, sanctioned teaching posts and subject-wise vacancies.
The department's reply points to a severe shortage of teachers, which has adversely affected higher education in the state.
Subhash said that the highest number of vacancies was in the English subject. Of the 1,146 sanctioned posts for English teachers, 792 are vacant. In Geography, 508 posts are vacant out of 806; in Commerce, 486 out of 1,034; in Mathematics, 409 out of 704; in Botany, 174 out of 226; and in Chemistry, 409 out of 583 posts are vacant.
Similarly, 233 out of 476 posts in Computer Science, 335 out of 528 in Hindi, and 140 out of 199 posts in Physical Education remain unfilled. Notably, all sanctioned posts in subjects such as Environment, Anthropology, Electronics, Zoology, Management, Biology, Information Technology, Microbiology, Statistics and Urdu are vacant.
Subhash said around 4,200 teaching posts were vacant in June 2024 when he had earlier sought similar information. "The number of vacant posts has now gone up to 4,902, which indicates that new recruitments are not being carried out while teachers continue to retire on superannuation," he said.
Quoting the 2024 RTI reply, he said Gurugram had 228 vacant posts, Hisar 279, Faridabad 242, Bhiwani 214, Ambala 103, Jind 169, Karnal 145, Palwal 114, Rohtak 170, Sirsa 167, Sonepat 109 and Fatehabad 143.
Subhash described the situation in colleges as a reflection of the "deplorable" state of higher education in Haryana.
"The condition of school education in the state is also quite bad. Thousands of teaching posts are vacant in schools. Schools are being merged and teaching posts are being abolished," he alleged.
