Not even 30% of central university teachers are women; 25.4% posts vacant: Education ministry data

Women constitute less than 30% of the faculty at central universities, shows the data shared by the government in the parliament on Wednesday. Not just permanent faculty, even in ad-hoc recruitment, women constitute a very small group.

The ministry of education also added that since 2009-14 – that is, the tenure of Manmohan Singh as prime minister and before Narendra Modi came to power – the number of sanctioned faculty posts has increased by 16% and the vacancies reduced to 25.44% in 2025.

Even in the ministry of education, there are vacancies. The number of vacancies in the core secretariat of the ministry, as on November 27, stands at 249, constituting about 24% of posts.

There are 56 central universities in the country.

Central Universities’ Recruitment: Women faculty

In a question raised by Trinamool Congress MP Ritabrata Banerjee, the minister of state for education, Sukanta Majumdar stated, “As informed by the University Grants Commission (UGC) as on November 1, 2025, there are 3,898 women faculties in Central Universities.”

He added, “Sanctioning of posts in Central Universities is a recurring process; the posts are created on need basis, taking into consideration various factors such as student strength, rolling out of new school(s) of study, expansion or modification of curriculum etc.” The question was raised in Rajya Sabha in the winter session of parliament, 2025.

During the monsoon session of parliament, the minister had stated that by July 1, 2025, the total number of sanctioned teaching posts in central universities stood at 18,951. “Out of the total sanctioned teaching posts, 4,889 teaching posts are currently vacant,” the minister had said then.

Banerjee had also sought details on the number of departments headed by women; however, the minister responded that academics hold headship positions on rotation or as per the institutions’ own statutes and ordinances. Data on that is not maintained centrally.

SC, ST, OBC posts

In another reply, to a question raised by TMC MP Prakash Chik Baraik, Majumdar stated, “Through special recruitment drives started in September 2022, more than 8,320 teaching positions including 1,129 Schedule Caste (SC) posts, 551 Schedule Tribe (ST) posts, 1,917 Other Backward Classes (OBC) posts and 420 Economically Weaker Section (EWS) posts have been filled in the central universities.”

In response to yet another query, Majumdar compared the current vacancy status to that of 2014 saying, “The sanctioned faculty posts have increased to 18,951 in 2025 from 16,324 in 2014. Despite a 16% increase in total sanctioned faculty posts, the faculty vacancies reduced to 25.44% in the year 2025 from 36.97% average vacancies in the central universities during the period 2009-2014.”

Ad-hoc teachers at central universities

Even though several committees and panels have recommended ending contract and ad-hoc appointments in universities, as per records, there were 176 ad hoc faculty in central universities even as late as April 1, 2025.

The education ministry shared that the count of women ad-hoc teachers stands at 46.

Empty posts in education ministry

The ministry of education itself is understaffed with 249 of its 1,034 posts lying vacant as of November 27, 2025.

Ministry staff are not academics and belong to different services, such as the Indian Statistical Service (ISS), Subordinate Statistical Service (SSS), Indian Economic Service (IES), Central Secretariat Service (CSS), Central Secretariat Stenographers Service (CSSS), Central Secretariat Clerical Service (CSCS), Central Secretariat Official Language Service (CSOLS) and others, including posts under Central Staffing Scheme.

The ministry has also recruited in contract, even in the core secretariat. The highest count of such appointments was in 2024, at 39. The year before 11 were hired on contract.