A parliamentary committee has flagged a significant shortage of staff in the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), noting that more than 56 per cent of sanctioned posts at NCERT and 44 per cent of positions at CBSE remain vacant.
The concerns were raised 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’, which was presented to Lok Sabha on Wednesday, August 12.
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The Education Ministry had informed the panel that NCERT has developed the National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage (NCFFS) and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCFSE), and has begun developing syllabi and textbooks based on these frameworks.
The committee, however, expressed concern about the number of vacancies across various posts in NCERT.
Presently, NCERT continues to face a substantial staff shortage. As of October 2025, the council had 1,248 employees against a sanctioned strength of 2,844, leaving 1,596 posts vacant. Of the vacant positions, 145 were academic posts, 131 were school teaching posts, 916 were ministerial posts, and 404 were ancillary positions.
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The report stated, “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, deserves urgent attention of the Ministry,” as per PTI.
The committee has urged the Education Ministry to make sincere efforts to fill various vacancies at NCERT, as it plays an important role in India’s education system.
Other than NCERT, the committee has also flagged the shortage of staff in CBSE. It said that the Board is currently relying on temporary, contractual staff to handle its daily work.
Of the 2,117 approved positions on the board, 933 remain vacant, accounting for nearly 44 per cent of the sanctioned strength. Group C support staff account for the largest share of the vacancies, with 595 posts unfilled.
The committee recommended that CBSE stop relying on temporary contractual workers for sensitive examination-related duties and fill the vacant positions through fast-track recruitment in a time-bound manner.
Other than this, the committee also highlighted that the number of schools affiliated with CBSE has increased from 3,787 in 1992-93 to 31,234 in 2024-25 (as on October 8, 2025). It also mentioned that the Board has now expanded to include 25 regional officers and five sub-regional offices to meet the needs of a growing number of students. As per data, the studennts number of students rose to over 1.70 million in Class XII and over 2.38 million in Class X in 2025.
