Over 1,500 NCERT posts vacant, 44% CBSE positions unfilled: Parliamentary panel

Staff shortages at NCERT and CBSE have come under scrutiny, with a parliamentary panel finding that more than half of NCERT's sanctioned positions and 44% of CBSE's posts are vacant.

The findings were included in the Tenth Report (Eighteenth Lok Sabha) of the Committee on Estimates (2026-27) on "Budget and Policy Aspects for Providing Affordable and Quality Education in the Country including Review of Central Board of Secondary Education."

The committee said the vacancies at NCERT are particularly concerning given the institution's role in developing educational frameworks, curricula and learning materials under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

According to information provided by the Education Ministry, NCERT has prepared the National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage (NCFFS) and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCFSE). It is also working on syllabi and textbooks based on these frameworks.

However, the panel found that NCERT's staffing levels remain significantly below its sanctioned strength. As of October 2025, the organization had 1,248 employees against 2,844 sanctioned posts, leaving 1,596 positions vacant.

The vacancies included 145 academic posts, 131 school teaching positions, 916 ministerial posts and 404 ancillary positions.

"The Committee are of the view that having so many posts vacant in NCERT which is an apex body instrumental in rethinking and reshaping education in a manner that is national in scope, deserve urgent attention of the Ministry," the report said.

The panel urged the ministry to make "sincere effort should be made by the Ministry for filling up of various vacancies," citing the importance of strengthening the country's education system and NCERT's role in implementing educational reforms.

CBSE is also facing a substantial shortage of permanent employees, according to the report.

Of the 2,117 sanctioned positions at CBSE, 933 remain vacant, accounting for 44% of the total. Group C positions account for the largest share of the shortage, with 595 posts unfilled.

The committee noted that the Board has been using temporary and contractual employees to manage its routine operations despite the staffing gap.

"The Committee are of the view that such shortage of permanent staff may put the safety, quality, and smooth running of major national board exams at serious risk," the report said.

The panel recommended that CBSE "should stop relying on temporary contractual workers for sensitive exam works" and fill vacant positions through a time-bound, fast-track recruitment process.

The staffing concerns come as CBSE's operational responsibilities have expanded significantly. The Board's affiliated school network has grown from 3,787 schools in 1992-93 to 31,234 schools in 2024-25, as of October 8, 2025.

The committee noted that CBSE now operates 25 regional offices and five sub-regional offices to manage the requirements of its expanding network and student population.

The Board's student base has also increased substantially. By 2025, more than 1.70 million students were enrolled in Class 12 and over 2.38 million students were registered in Class 10.

CBSE is a self-financed autonomous organization and does not receive grant-in-aid from the Education Ministry, the panel noted.

The committee said the continued expansion of CBSE's affiliated schools and student base makes adequate permanent staffing increasingly important, particularly for the secure and efficient conduct of national Board examinations.

It called for vacancies at both NCERT and CBSE to be filled, with particular attention to strengthening CBSE's permanent workforce for examination-related responsibilities.