SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir had 91,569 teachers in position in government schools during 2025-26, including 18,748 at the foundational stage, 38,988 at the preparatory stage and 33,833 at the secondary stage, the Lok Sabha was informed on Monday.
The figures were provided by the Ministry of Education in response to a question on shortages of teachers and faculty in government schools and higher educational institutions.
According to UDISE+ 2025-26 data, government schools across India had 51.35 lakh teachers in position. JK accounted for 91,569 of these teachers, while neighbouring Ladakh had 5,289 teachers in position.
The Union Government, however, did not provide a consolidated figure for sanctioned and vacant teaching posts in JK, stating that such data is maintained by the respective State Governments and Union Territory Administrations.
The Ministry said recruitment of school teachers is a continuous process undertaken by the concerned States and UTs according to their recruitment rules. Vacancies arise due to retirement, resignation, creation of new posts following increased enrolment and establishment of new schools.
It said the Centre periodically advises States and UTs to fill vacant posts through transparent and merit-based recruitment and reviews progress through technology-based teacher requirement planning and forecasting.
The Government also provides financial assistance under Samagra Shiksha to help States and UTs maintain the prescribed pupil-teacher ratio under the Right to Education Act.
The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 envisages a pupil-teacher ratio of below 30:1 in each school and below 25:1 in areas with large numbers of socio-economically disadvantaged students. Nationally, the UDISE+ 2025-26 pupil-teacher ratio stood at 10 at the foundational stage, 12 at the preparatory stage, 17 at the middle stage and 21 at the secondary stage.
For higher education, the Ministry said Central Higher Education Institutions, including Central Universities, undertake faculty recruitment independently under their respective Acts, Statutes and Regulations.
The Centre has directed these institutions to undertake Mission Mode Recruitment Drives to fill faculty vacancies, including backlog vacancies. Since September 2022, Central Universities, IITs and NITs have undertaken such drives.
Up to May 23, 2026, a total of 32,114 posts, including 18,757 faculty positions, had been filled by Central Higher Education Institutions through Mission Mode recruitment, the Ministry said.
The Government also cited the UGC’s CU-CHAYAN portal, which provides a common platform for advertising and listing faculty vacancies in Central Universities, as part of measures to make recruitment more transparent and accessible.
The Ministry said measures under NEP 2020, Samagra Shiksha, NIPUN Bharat, NISHTHA teacher training and other programmes were also being implemented to improve learning outcomes and the quality of school education.
